Across the Commonwealth of Virginia there are over 5,000 children in Foster Care.
Download detailed information about the number of foster care children in your county.
Foster Care Awareness Sunday
Sunday, May 12, 2024
Mission Projects provide practical ways to serve locally.
Prayer guide and resources are available to download.
Fostering Champions - Short Version | SBCV
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
James 1:27 (ESV)
Foster Care in Virginia
Truths about Foster Care
- About 50% of foster care children are teenagers (13–18).
- Current average time in care is almost 20 months.
- Over 1,500 children (close to 40%) have the goal of adoption.
- More than 600 children are currently waiting to be adopted .
- Over 400 children are in a congregate care setting, group home, or residential facility rather than a family.
- Average length of stay in a facility is 24 months. Most only need to stay for 3 months max, but there are no homes for them.
- Virginia is 50th in permanency, which means more kids exit foster care at 18 without a family in Virginia than in any other state.
- Human trafficking, poverty, homelessness, addiction, out-of-wedlock births, and incarceration are all more likely for kids who spend time in foster care.
- Over 50,000 kids are being cared for by relatives in a Foster Care-like setting called kinship care. Kinship families need support to enable the child to stay with them and not enter foster care.
The Calling
- Pray for the loneliest children in Virginia and for foster families
- Serve—have your church adopt a congregate care facility/group home for activities and to care for/mentor children
- Care—provide wrap-around care for foster families in your church and kinship families in your community
- Partner—with social services in your community to help keep children out of foster care by providing for needs and for kinship families
- Foster a child—at least one family from each SBCV church to go through foster care training
Less than 11% of children in Foster Care return to their birth families. With the right kinds of family support, we can prevent them from going into Foster Care at all.
CarePortal – Care for every child
Whether you simply want to keep one child out of foster care, help one family in crisis stay together, or rally your community, CarePortal connects you. Are you ready to help?
Sign up to combat the foster care crisis in your neighborhood. A few examples of needs are twin beds, car seats, meal delivery, mentorship, and transportation. If CarePortal is not available near you, sign up today to help bring CarePortal to your area.
Staff Contacts
Brad Russell
Missions Strategist
Mona Hewitt
Administrative Assistant for Ministry Support