Centre County Assistant Public Defender Receives Permanency Advocate Award

This story originally appeared in The Centre County Gazette.

Centre County Assistant Public Defender Parviz Ansari was announced as the recipient of the Permanency Advocate Recognition Award at the 32nd Annual Pennsylvania Permanency Conference this summer.

The Permanency Conference brings together resource families and child welfare professionals to “train participants on how to prepare children and their families for their journey towards permanency, educate and support all those involved in finding permanent homes for Pennsylvania’s foster children and provide an opportunity for children to be matched with prospective foster and adoptive families,” according to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s government website.

During the conference, over 40 workshops centered on various permanency-related topics and keynote presentations. An award ceremony is also held during the conference to recognize individuals who assisted in securing permanent homes for children and youth.

Ansari, who is the assistant public defender at the Centre County courthouse in Bellefonte, also is a guardian ad litem for dependent children in Centre County. He previously was awarded the 2020 Child Advocate of the Year Award from the Pennsylvania Bar Association Children’s Rights Committee, 2018 Pro Bono Award from the Pennsylvania Bar Foundation and the 2018 Vogelsong Professional Excellence Award from the Centre County Youth Service Bureau.

The Permanency Advocate Recognition Award “recognizes a dynamic individual who demonstrates a commitment to building cooperative relationships to expedite the permanency process,” according to pa.gov.