Foster Care

Foster Care is a program that provides services, substitute care, and supervision for a child on a 24-hour basis until the child can return to his or her family or be placed in an adoptive home or another permanent placement. All local departments of social services provide foster care.

The philosophy of Virginia’s Foster Care Program is to maintain family connectivity and ensure that all children grow up in safe and stable homes. Because all children deserve a permanent home in which to develop, foster care is intended to be a temporary response, not a long-term solution, to family problems.

Children enter into foster care for many reasons, including abuse, neglect and abandonment. From the time a child enters the foster care system, the child has a "permanency goal" designed to ensure they will have an appropriate family with which to live.

While many families provide foster care homes for children, the need for more individuals willing to share their home and heart with a child is on-going. Being a foster parent has many challenges and rewards. All foster parents receive support as part of a team of individuals and agencies, working together in the best interests of each child.

Norfolk Human Services provides training for foster parents. The training is designed to help foster parents understand and manage the needs of children in their care. See the Foster/Adoptive Parent Training Series Schedule at the bottom of the page.

To learn more about Foster Care & Adoption and to hear a personal story of adoption, you can watch a selection of our agency video, People Helping People.

For more information on Foster Care or becoming a Foster Care Provider please contact:

Nancy Brock - (757) 664-6079 - Email

Adoption

Adoption provides children who are unable to be raised by their biological parents the chance to become permanent legal members of another family while maintaining genetic and psychological connections to their birth family.

Building a family by adoption is fundamentally different than building a family biologically, with lifelong implications for the adopted individual, the adoptive parents, and the birth parents. 

Before a child is adopted, Virginia law requires that the adoptive family have an approved home study performed by a licensed agency. The Norfolk Department of Human Services will assist you in this process.

Contact: Traci Brickhouse - (757) 664-7749 - Email