Foster Care & Adoption

Foster/Adoptive Parent Training Series

Information sessions are scheduled throughout the year. Call 757-943-8709 or contact us to register.

The Foster/Adoptive Parent Training Series addresses key issues and concerns of becoming a certified foster / adoptive parent under Virginia standards.

Key Topics of Discussion

  • Income requirements
  • Living accommodations
  • Qualities of Successful Foster / Adoptive Parents

Uniting Families

Have you considered fostering or adopting a child?

“If you’re looking for a sign, this is it,” says Adoption Supervisor Christina Lenhart. Meet parents who have expanded their families through adoption with the Department of Human Services.

Adopt a Child

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.

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.

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.

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.

Foster Parenting

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.

The Norfolk Department of Human Services offers information sessions about foster parenting throughout the year and provides concurrent training for prospective foster and adoptive parents.