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Foster/Adopt

FOSTER PARENTING

Fostering a child is one of the most rewarding, challenging, meaningful things anyone can do to solve the foster care crisis and be a positive influence in the life of a child.

Virginia, along with most other states, is in dire need of foster families who:

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  • Understand that reunification to a stable, healthy birth family is often in the child's best interests.

  • Understand that the placement is temporary and short-term.

  • Are willing to work in conjunction with the birth family to ensure the long-term wellbeing of the child.

  • Willing to take sibling sets, older kids and kids with special needs.

  • Willing to create a trauma-informed home environment.

  • Patient at the right times with a system that is overwhelmed and persistent at other times to ensure the best services for their child in foster care.

Foster parents in Virginia can be:

  • Single

  • Married

  • Renters

  • Home-Owners

  • Military

  • 21+ years old

  • Working

  • Stay-At-Home

  • Pet Owners

  • Retired

  • Part of small family

  • Part of a big family

the faster Families Highway

Foster families are needed to support family reunification and provide children who enter foster care with opportunities to remain connected to their families and home communities. In order to connect prospective foster parents with their local county-based departments of social services, Virginia has established the Faster Families Highway. Virginia's Kids Belong wants to help as you navigate this process. 
By registering with the link below VKB can guide you through.

adoption

Adoption out of foster care is unique to any other kind of adoption.

It often takes time, special training, and an equal amount of understanding and determination. Yet for many people, it is considered one of the best decisions of their life.

There are currently over 700 children available for adoption in Virginia. Out of those 700, approximately 500 are already in an identified adoptive family. Approximately 200 do not have an identified adoptive family. These children who are available for adoption are often over the age of 14, part of a sibling set or have special needs.

Adopting out of foster care requires patience, a willingness to create a trauma-informed home environment, and an understanding of the importance of birth family connections to long-term well being.

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Fostering-to-Adopt often requires adjusting a family's view of adoption from younger children to older children. When an adoptive family signs up through a local child welfare agency to adopt, we encourage them to be as open on the ages of the children as they can be. Because the need is so great, some agencies only recruit for families who will take teenagers or sibling groups.

To become a foster or foster-to-adopt parent, contact your local department of social service office to get started:

To become a foster or foster-to-adopt parent, contact a private provider in your area to get started:

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