May is Foster Care Month: Shining a Light on Virginia’s Failing Support for Kinship Families

May is Foster Care Month: Shining a Light on Virginia’s Failing Support for Kinship Families

May is National Foster Care Month—a time meant to recognize the resilience of children and families navigating the child welfare system. But for many families in Virginia who step up to care for their kin—grandparents, aunts, uncles, and older siblings—this month is also a stark reminder of how broken the system remains, especially when it comes to supporting those who choose love over legality.

Kinship Care: A Preferred but Unsupported Path

Virginia has publicly committed to a “kin-first” approach, encouraging the placement of children with relatives rather than non-related foster parents. Yet only about 16% of children in Virginia’s foster care system are placed with kin, compared to the national average of 35%. Why? Because kinship caregivers are often set up to fail.

Unlike licensed foster parents, kinship caregivers frequently receive little to no financial, legal, or emotional support—even though they are often thrust into caregiving roles during times of family crisis or trauma.

Beyond the Paycheck: Other Gaps in Support

Financial assistance is just the tip of the iceberg. Here’s how Virginia’s system fails kinship caregivers in other critical ways:

• Lack of Legal Guidance: Many relatives caring for children don’t have legal custody and are left in limbo—unable to make educational, medical, or therapeutic decisions without jumping through court-imposed hoops. Legal aid is scarce, and caregivers are often told to “figure it out” or hire an attorney they can’t afford.

•Barriers to Mental Health Services: Children in kinship care often experience trauma, but accessing mental health services is complex. Without formal foster care status or a court order, many kinship families are excluded from trauma-informed therapy or case management services provided to foster placements.

•No Respite or Emotional Support: Foster parents often receive respite care, peer support networks, and caseworker check-ins. Kinship caregivers get none of that—leaving many burned out, isolated, and unsupported.

•Educational Exclusion: Caregivers without legal custody may be excluded from IEP meetings or school decision-making. Some schools require formal court documentation to allow caregivers to advocate for the child’s educational needs.

•Navigating DSS Alone: The Department of Social Services’ rules vary widely by locality, and caseworkers often don’t understand or apply kinship care laws consistently. Families are met with misinformation, bureaucratic stonewalling, or simply ignored.

The Emotional Toll

Many kinship caregivers take in children not out of obligation, but out of love. They believe in preserving family ties and preventing children from entering the foster care system. But when they ask for help, they are often treated as second-class caregivers—offered sympathy instead of services.

This emotional weight is compounded by the trauma the children have already endured. These caregivers become therapists, advocates, case managers, and educators—often while grieving the loss or addiction of the child’s parents. And yet, the system too often treats them as invisible.

Virginia Can—and Must—Do Better

New legislation like SB 29 and HB 27 aims to offer some financial relief and support coordination for kinship caregivers, but these solutions are underfunded, inconsistently applied, and poorly publicized.

If we are serious about protecting children, then we must be serious about protecting the people who protect them. That means:

• Ensuring access to legal aid and expedited custody processes

• Making mental health and trauma services available regardless of legal status

• Including kinship caregivers in education decisions without red tape

• Offering respite care and peer support groups

• Training DSS workers on kinship care rights and resources

A Call to Action

This Foster Care Month, let’s look beyond flowers and thank-you cards. Let’s look at policy, practice, and the people caught in the cracks.

To learn more or advocate for change, visit: https://www.dss.virginia.gov/family/kinship/