703-324-7500
TTY 711
Oriane Eriksen,
Director
Today, nearly 200 Fairfax County children are in foster care. The Department of Family Services' Foster Care and Adoption Program offers temporary foster homes for these children, and services to help their families. When a child cannot return home safely, we seek to find relatives who want to care for the child, and are legally eligible to do so. If a relative is not identified, or is unable to care for the child, we seek a permanent home through adoption.
Foster care refers to finding a temporary home for a child outside the home where he or she had been raised. This may occur as a result of abuse, neglect or other circumstances that put the child at risk. During this time, family problems are addressed so that the child can return home safely, or plans are made to find a safe and nurturing home for the child outside his or her birth family.
Foster parents offer children safety and stability until they can return to their families or go to permanent homes. Foster families offer different types of care:
Adoption provides a permanent home when a child cannot return to the parents or relatives.
They are children in Fairfax County who:
People who:
Thank you for your interest in becoming a foster parent and helping children in need. The next step is to participate in one of our monthly information meetings.
Do you have a specific question about a monthly information meeting or have a follow-up question after attending a monthly information meeting? Contact Dr. Patricia Aviles-Cubillos by email or call 703-324-7919 (responses are provided within one business day).
Do you have a general question about Foster Care and Adoption? Call 703-324-7639 or TTY 703-222-9452.
Patricia Aviles-Cubillos discusses foster parent recruitment with host Heber Velasquez on “La Voz del Condado de Fairfax,” the County’s Spanish-language radio program on WUST-1120 AM.
Our foster parents receive:
More than 70 percent of our adoptive families begin as foster parents, and then commit to adopting the child in their care. Many are school aged and part of sibling groups. Learn more from this Inside Scoop Virginia video.
"Finding my forever family has made such a big impact in my life! We enjoy being together, supporting each other, and making lots of new memories. I strongly encourage anyone considering fostering or adopting to do it - you can make all the difference in the life of a kid like me."
Mikalah
"As a first-time single parent, I was nervous about raising a teenager, but everything fell into place the minute I met her, and it's been an exceptional experience ever since!"
Lesley
"I have learned that adoption is not for the faint of heart. Some days I am aggravated. Some days I am exasperated. Some days I am heartbroken. Some days I ask, 'what have I gotten myself into?' But every day I know that this is among the greatest things I have ever done. In some situations you are literally saving a child's life. But in every situation you are offering a child the opportunity to see all the possibilities this world has to offer."
Leslie
The Unexpected Rewards of Foster Parenting is an interview with foster parents from Fairfax County who share their journey - what interest them initially; what steps they took to become foster parents; how long they served as foster parents; the relationship they built; challenges; rewards; advice based on their experience and more.
Meet some of the families who know this experience firsthand. Check out the videos of their personal stories to learn more about their journey.
Meet the DredgesRecognized as the 2020 Foster Parents of the Year for Fairfax County by Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG), Danielle and Jesse Dredge have provided Fairfax foster children with stability, structure, nurturing, and connection. The Dredge family has fostered a sibling set of brothers, a teen mother and her child, and a teen male. With each placement they have been influential in how they manage the children’s adjustment to their placement, provide interventions and strategies when children have noted struggles, set clear boundaries, and worked with the child and biological family toward reunification. Get to know them and why they want to make a difference in the lives of children through foster care. Learn more about their story.
Foster Family NewsDon't miss out on this monthly newsletter for current and potential Fairfax County foster parents. Each issue has information to help keep foster parents informed about new and notable happenings in Fairfax County - messages from staff, program plans, trends, trainings and policy changes, and more.
May is Foster Care and Foster Family Recognition MonthAll children need love, support, security and a place to call home. We celebrate all those who have invited a child in need into their hearts and homes, making foster care possible. (Thank you!)
Learn about this year's proclamation. #FosterCareMonth
Join the conversation with our community engagement toolkit - talking points and social media graphics and messages.
Bridging the Gap: Keeping Families ConnectedDue to COVID-19, this is a challenging time for all of us. With social distancing required for public safety, how do we make it safe for children in foster care to have critical time with their birth or adoptive families? Fairfax has moved to a virtual platform for visitations, and here are some suggestions for other things you can do as a foster family to bridge the gap and continue to strengthen the relationship between the birth or adoptive parent.
