On Tuesday February 23rd, 2021, the Richmond Times-Dispatch published an Op-ed authored by Children’s Home Society of Virginia president and CEO, Nadine Marsh-Carter, and Policy Director, Cassie Baudeán (formerly Cunningham.) Our goal is to continue to inform the public about the plight and often dire outcomes of youth in Virginia’s foster care system, and to […]
Much like for everyone else, 2020 has been an unpredictable year for the CHS Advocacy team. Ending General Assembly session in March, we enjoyed early success with the General Assembly acting positively on many of our legislative priorities. It quickly became uncertain as we entered the pandemic and economic downturn shortly after the legislative session […]
Virginia Ranks 50th Again – You Can Help Change That Today Virginia has fallen back to 50th – worst in the nation – for the rate at which youth age out of foster care. While there are many factors contributing to our high rate of youth aging out of foster care, two big factors are: […]
Thank you to Voice’s for Virginia’s Children for leading the charge on ensuring children involved in foster care remain safe, stable and cared for during the COVID-19 uncertainty. We are grateful to be a part of the Foster Care Unified Network who worked together to develop the recommendations below. Thank you to everyone who is […]
Thank you to everyone who helped advocate for positive changes to the foster care system during this 2020 General Assembly session! Your voice was heard! We are thankful to each of you as well as the members of the General Assembly for their continued focus on improving the lives of children and youth involved in […]
In January, VPM and 19RED released a new documentary titled “Aged-Out: Finding Home” that provides awareness of The Possibilities Project, a privately funded program for youth ages 18 to 25 who have aged out of the traditional foster care system in Virginia, as well as provides awareness of the difficulties faced by these youth. This […]
We are at the tail end of the 2020 General Assembly session and will post an update within the next couple of days on how things are ending up. Spoiler alert: we may have some action items for those interested in joining our advocacy work! As we finish our work this session, CHS was featured […]
We are about to start Week 5 of this General Assembly session and continue advocating for improved policies involving foster care, adoption and youth aging out of foster care. Here’s a look at where some of our priority bills stand heading into Week 5. Codifying Fostering Futures: The Senate has passed their version of this […]
Thank you to our families, team and partners for a very successful advocacy day today! With over 30 participants, we met with over 20 legislators and staff to share experiences and insights into foster care and adoption. Our families shared their experiences and how the General Assembly can work to solve some of the issues […]
This was a big week at the General Assembly for foster care related issues. On Wednesday, we joined Voices for Virginia’s Children as they led a Foster Youth Advocacy day. Almost 20 youth who have foster care or kinship care experience came down to the General Assembly to share their experiences and thoughts on pending […]