KinshipResource
To the Aunts and Uncles, Grandparents, Relatives, and Close Family Friends, Thank You for Caring!
The Virginia Department of Social Services is here to support current and prospective kinship caregivers with essential information and resources on financial assistance, legal guidance, and other challenges they may encounter in providing stability and nurturing homes for the children in their care.
What Is Kinship Care and Who Are Kinship Caregivers?
Kinship care is when a child is unable to remain in their home with their parents due to illness, incarceration, unstable housing or abuse or neglect, and instead, lives with a relative or close family friend. Kinship care is a way for Virginia’s children to stay connected to their family. Kinship care in Virginia can be an informal or formal arrangement depending on the needs of the family. The child welfare social services system may be involved in helping place children with kinship caregivers.
When children are in foster care, their kinship caregiver, if they meet Virginia’s approval requirements, can become approved kinship or relative foster parents (also know as resource parents) through their local department of social services.
Advantages of Kinship Care
Kinship care offers several benefits compared to non-relative foster care, including enhanced stability, preservation of cultural and family identity, reduced disruption, and improved emotional and behavioral outcomes. Children in kinship care typically experience fewer moves, maintain important familial relationships, and achieve permanency through returning home, transfer of custody, or adoption more quickly than their peers in non-relative foster homes. Additionally, kinship care can positively influence parents’ efforts toward reunification through family connections and support.
In recognition of these and all the other benefits children and families experience when they remain close, Virginia actively honors, promotes, and practices relative placement as the first consideration when children are unable to safely remain in their homes.
If you’re a kinship caregiver in Virginia, please call (888) 539-1972 to receive information and referrals for your family’s needs. This toll-free support services hotline is available to you 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
