Adopt a Child
Understanding adoption
Adoption out of foster care is unique to any other kind of adoption.
It often takes time, special training, and an equal amount of understanding and determination. Yet for many people, it is considered one of the best decisions of their life.
There are currently 880 children available for adoption in Virginia. Out of those 880, approximately 630 are already in an identified adoptive family. Approximately 250 do not have an identified adoptive family. These children who are available for adoption are often over the age of 14, part of a sibling set or have special needs.
Adopting out of foster care requires patience, a willingness to create a trauma-informed home environment, and an understanding of the importance of birth family connections to long-term wellbeing.
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Fostering-to-Adopt often requires adjusting a family's view of adoption from younger children to older children. When an adoptive family signs up through a local child welfare agency to adopt, we encourage them to be as open on the ages of the children as they can be. Because the need is so great, some agencies only recruit for families who will take teenagers or sibling groups.
Viewing options
There is a state-designed photo listing of nearly all children currently waiting for a family to adopt them. These listings are split between 3 collaborating organizations; AdoptUSKids, C2Adopt, and Connecting Hearts.
Virginia's Kids Belong is working towards developing high quality videos of each child waiting for adoption to make it easier for prospective parents to learn about the children before making an inquiry.