NORFOLK, VA – November is National Adoption Month and it’s only fitting that Norfolk’s efforts in providing permanent homes for children are recognized in the latest dataset available on the city’s Open Data portal.
This dataset details the work accomplished by staff at the Norfolk Department of Human Services (DHS) with the goal of finding safe, permanent homes for children who are in Norfolk’s foster care system. In September 2021, the latest month for which figures are available, 51 children in foster care in Norfolk were seeking their forever families. Thirty-six of those children (or nearly 71 percent) were waiting to be adopted after their parents’ rights had been terminated. A second dataset for foster care is also available. Whenever possible, DHS staff work to stabilize families with the goal of returning children to their birth families.
Both datasets contain demographic and case characteristics of children in foster care in Norfolk with the goal of adoption. The datasets include the sex, age, race, placement, parental rights status and adoption status of these children. The data is from Virginia’s Online Automated Services Information System (OASIS) and updated monthly in the Open Data portal. OASIS is a comprehensive system that tracks the day-to-day activities performed by social workers statewide and is the official case record system for foster care and adoption cases in Virginia. Read the data story that accompanies the datasets.
Feel free to view, download and analyze any of the data in this portal. The City of Norfolk provides this data as an affirmation of commitment to transparency and community collaboration. This commitment, as well as the work of teams throughout the city to use data to make the best decisions and make the most efficient use of resources, led to Norfolk’s Silver Level Certification from What Works Cities. This group helps local governments improve residents' lives by using data and evidence effectively to tackle pressing challenges.
We hope that you will use this data to improve your community, spark a business idea or just satisfy your curiosity. Have a question about Norfolk Open Data? Contact us at 757-664-4007 or email opendata@norfolk.gov.