Virginia Foster Care & Adoption Statistics

VA Foster Care by the Numbers

The 2023 AFCARS Report shows around 20,000 young people leave the foster care program without an adoptive family. The industry refers to responsible parent figures and a place to call home as "permanency." Achieving permanency for children through adoptive or foster families is vital for long-term mental health and stability. It can significantly affect whether children in our child welfare system graduate high school, find a good job, or attend college.

In our community, many youth in foster care struggle after they age out of the system without an adoptive family or social support structure. Without family members to guide and support them, children and youth often struggle to find their way. Data shows that foster kids who spend time in family foster homes fare better than those in more institutional group care settings. Nowhere is this more true than when eligible foster kids find forever families through foster-to-adoption.

The mean age of a child in foster care is just eight years old. In Virginia, nearly 5,000 children are in foster care. Many foster kids cannot return to their birth families. More than 1,700 Virginia foster children, including babies, kids, and teens, are eligible for adoption.

Families who are willing to help foster youth truly change lives. Foster-to-adopt parents provide permanent homes and loving forever families for foster children across the United States. Foster parents make a huge impact during their short time with foster kids. Each provides a temporary stable home and refuge until their foster children reunite with their biological families. All play a crucial role in improving the lives of children in foster care.

The number of children in foster care has decreased in recent years. However, there are still more foster kids eligible for adoption than there are adoptive families to care for them.

Foster youth need lots of support, both for stable, nurturing care...and often for coping with trauma in their young lives. Most foster children experience some kind of trauma. This trauma could be from the abuse or neglect that caused them to enter the foster care system. The process of removing foster kids from their homes may itself cause trauma, as well.

Looking forward, we need to continue working toward a protective system of care with more foster-to-adopt families. Only 3% of foster kids continue on to earn a college degree, which is much lower than the rate of non-foster college graduates. The magic ingredients are often a place to call home and a warm, supportive, and loving family. Parents who foster adoption complete their families and help their children succeed and achieve happiness in the long run.

The local Department of Social Services (DSS) system works hard to improve foster children's daily lives. These efforts include supportive services that help families in crisis while kids remain safely at home. Evolving challenges include opioid addiction among a large number of parents. Drug abuse continues to plague our communities and traumatize families.

Addiction often forces children to enter foster care feeling displaced, scared, and lonely. Addicted parents may try to get clean, but there is a high rate of relapse. This can cause instability and disruption for their children, who end up in and out of foster care.

AdoptionVA's mission is to proactively provide stable home and family opportunities for foster kids eligible for adoption. Working within the foster care system, our dedicated team focuses on earning state approval for foster-to-adopt parents. Virginia's children of all ages, races, and backgrounds need safe, stable, and loving families.

Thank you for considering foster care or adoption through the foster care system. We dedicate ourselves to connecting brighter futures for Virginia's foster children. We are here to help you get state approval and to support our foster-to-adopt parents every step of the way.

You can make a difference in the life of a foster child today and for all their tomorrows.