Title 63.2, Title 63.2. Welfare (Social Services)

A. When placing a child, the local board shall first consider placement with a kinship foster parent. B. The local board shall, in accordance with regulations adopted by the Board, determine whether the child has any relative who may be eligible to become a kinship foster parent.…

All reasonable steps shall be taken to place siblings entrusted to the care of a local board or licensed child-placing agency, committed to the care of a local board or agency by any court of competent jurisdiction, or placed with a local board or public agency through an agreeme…

When placing a child of school age in a foster care placement, as defined in § 63.2-100, the local social services agency making such placement shall, in writing, determine jointly with the local school division whether it is in the child's best interests to remain enrolled at th…

The local director shall supervise the placement in suitable homes of children placed through an agreement with the parents or guardians or entrusted or committed to the local board pursuant to §§ 63.2-900, 63.2-902 and 63.2-903.

A. Each local board and licensed child-placing agency shall obtain, in accordance with regulations adopted by the Board, criminal history record information from the Central Criminal Records Exchange and the Federal Bureau of Investigation through the Central Criminal Records Exc…

A. No local board shall approve a kinship foster home, as permitted pursuant to 63.2-900.1, if any individual's background check conducted pursuant to § 63.2-901.1 returns a conviction for a barrier crime as defined in § 19.2-392.02 and the individual does not meet the exceptions…

A. Every local board and licensed child-placing agency shall, with respect to each child placed by it in a foster home or children's residential facility, enter into a written agreement contained in an approved foster care policy with the head of such home or facility, which agre…

A. Whenever a local board accepts custody of a child pursuant to an entrustment agreement entered into under the authority of § 63.2-900, or a licensed child-placing agency accepts custody of a child pursuant to an entrustment agreement entered into under the authority of § 63.2-…

A. Before placing or arranging for the placement of any such child in a foster home or independent living arrangement, a local board or licensed child-placing agency shall cause a careful study to be made to determine the suitability of such home or independent living arrangement…

A. The Commissioner shall have the authority to create and enforce a corrective action plan for any local board that, in the Commissioner's discretion, (i) fails to provide foster care services or make placement and removal decisions in accordance with this title or Board regulat…

The Commissioner shall establish and maintain mechanisms to receive reports and complaints from foster parents, interested stakeholders, and other citizens of the Commonwealth regarding violations of laws or regulations applicable to foster care and any other matters affecting th…

Foster care services are the provision of a full range of casework, treatment, and community services, including but not limited to independent living services, for a planned period of time to a child who is abused or neglected as defined in § 63.2-100 or in need of services as d…

Local departments and licensed child-placing agencies shall provide independent living services to any person between 18 and 21 years of age who is in the process of transitioning from foster care to self-sufficiency. Any person who was committed or entrusted to a local board or …

Local departments shall provide housing support for a period of no more than six months to any person who (i) is 18 years of age or older but less than 21 years of age, (ii) on or after July 1, 2022, (a) turned 18 years of age while in foster care under the custody of a local dep…

A. Local departments shall request the placement of a security freeze pursuant to the provisions of § 59.1-444.3 on the credit report or record of any child who is less than 16 years of age and has been in foster care for at least six months in order to prevent cases of identity …

When a child is leaving foster care upon reaching 18 years of age, unless the child has been in foster care for less than six months, the local department shall ensure that the child has, if eligible to receive, (i) a certified birth certificate, (ii) a social security card, (iii…

Local departments shall ensure that any individual who was in foster care on his eighteenth birthday is enrolled, unless the individual objects, in the Commonwealth's program of medical assistance established pursuant to § 32.1-325, provided that such individual is eligible to re…

The Department shall, in coordination with the Commission on Youth, develop a process and standardized survey to gather feedback from children aging out of foster care. The survey shall include requests for information regarding the child's experience with and opinion of the Comm…

If the local department of social services (the local department) serves as representative payee for a child receiving benefits from the Social Security Administration or the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the local department shall provide written notice in person or by ce…

A. Each child who is committed or entrusted to the care of a local board or to a licensed child-placing agency or who is placed through an agreement between a local board and the parent, parents or guardians, where legal custody remains with the parent, parents or guardians, shal…

A. In cases in which a child is placed by a local board or licensed child-placing agency in a qualified residential treatment program as defined in § 63.2-100, the foster care plan shall include (i) a description of the reasonable and good faith efforts made by the local departme…

Each local board shall establish and keep current a social service plan with service objectives and shall provide the necessary social services for achievement of a permanent home for each child for whom it has care and custody or has an agreement with the parents or guardians to…

A. Permanent foster care placement means the place in which a child has been placed pursuant to the provisions of §§ 63.2-900, 63.2-903 and this section with the expectation and agreement between the placing agency and the place of permanent foster care that the child shall remai…

Pursuant to § 16.1-290, responsible persons shall pay child support for a child placed in foster care from the date that custody was awarded to the local department. The court order shall state the names of the responsible persons obligated to pay support, and either specify the …

Responsible persons shall pay child support for a child placed in foster care through an agreement where legal custody remains with the parent or guardian pursuant to subdivision A 4 of § 16.1-278.2 or § 63.2-900, from the date that the child was placed in foster care. The agreem…

A local department of social services has the authority to take custody of abandoned children, to arrange appropriate placements for abandoned children, including foster care, and to institute proceedings for the termination of parental rights of abandoned children as provided in…

A. If a child has been in foster care under the responsibility of a local board for 15 of the most recent 22 months or if the parent of a child in foster care has been convicted of an offense under the laws of the Commonwealth or a substantially similar law of any other state, th…

The Department may provide liability insurance for civil matters for persons providing basic foster care services in foster homes, as defined in §§ 63.2-100 and 63.2-905, that are approved by local boards for children in their custody or children who the board has entered into an…

The circuit courts and juvenile and domestic relations district courts shall have the authority to grant visitation rights to the natural parents, siblings, and grandparents of any child entrusted or committed to foster care if the court finds (i) that the parent, sibling, or gra…

At the time that a child is placed in foster care, each local department of social services shall, if applicable, notify the foster parents of their right to make a written request as set forth in § 22.1-288.3.

The Department shall, pursuant to Board regulations, establish minimum training requirements and shall provide educational programs for foster and adoption workers employed by the local department and their supervisors.

The Department shall, pursuant to Board regulations, establish a caseload standard that limits the amount of foster care cases that may be assigned to each foster care caseworker. Such caseload standard shall be reviewed and updated, as appropriate, annually on the basis of the t…

A. The following individuals shall have the right to file an appeal with the Commissioner: (i) pursuant to § 63.2-900.1, any individual whose request to become a kinship foster parent or (ii) pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 671(a)(12), any individual whose claim for benefits available pu…

The local department of social services shall notify the appropriate community services board as soon as it is known that a child in the foster care system has a developmental disability so that the community services board may screen the child for placement on the statewide deve…

The Fostering Futures program is established to provide services and support to individuals 18 years of age or older but less than 21 years of age who were in foster care upon turning 18 years of age. Such services and support shall be designed to assist the program participant i…

For purposes of this article: "Case plan" means the plan developed by the local department for a program participant in accordance with 42 U.S.C. § 675(1). "Child" means an individual who is (i) less than 18 years of age or (ii) for purposes of the Fostering Futures program set f…

The Fostering Futures program is available, on a voluntary basis, to an individual between 18 and 21 years of age who: 1. Was (i) in the custody of a local department immediately prior to reaching 18 years of age, remained in foster care upon turning 18 years of age, and entered …

Continuing services and support provided under the Fostering Futures program shall include the following, where necessary: 1. Medical care under the state plan for medical assistance; 2. Housing, placement, and support in the form of continued foster care maintenance payments in …

A. In order to participate in the Fostering Futures program, the eligible program participant shall enter into a written voluntary continuing services and support agreement with the local department. Such agreement shall include, at a minimum, the following: 1. A requirement that…

A. A program participant may terminate the voluntary continuing services and support agreement at any time. Upon such termination, the local department shall provide the program participant with a written notice informing the program participant of the potential negative effects …

A local department that enters into a voluntary continuing services and support agreement with a program participant shall file a petition for review of the agreement and the program participant's case plan in accordance with § 16.1-283.3. If no subsequent hearings are held by th…

A child may be placed for adoption by: 1. A licensed child-placing agency; 2. A local board; 3. The child's parent or legal guardian if the placement is a parental placement; and 4. Any agency outside the Commonwealth that is licensed or otherwise duly authorized to place childre…

A. Any adoption of a child who was born in a foreign country and who was not a citizen of the United States at the time of birth shall, subject to the provisions of subsection D of § 63.2-1201.1, be recognized by the Commonwealth and the rights and obligations of the parties shal…

Proceedings for the adoption of a minor child and for a change of name of such child shall be instituted only by petition to a circuit court in the county or city in which the petitioner resides, in the county or city in which the child-placing agency that placed the child is loc…

A. Persons previously married to each other who stood in loco parentis to a child during their marriage to each other, and who could have adopted or readopted the child pursuant to this chapter while married to each other, but whose marriage is void, has been annulled, or has dis…

A. No petition for adoption shall be granted, except as hereinafter provided in this section, unless written consent to the proposed adoption is filed with the petition. Such consent shall be in writing, signed under oath and acknowledged before an officer authorized by law to ta…