Join us in celebrating our adoptive families and all those who support them!
Interested in adoption? Learn about the Foster Care and Adoption program and how you can help us offer more foster homes that reflect the cultural diversity of our community.
Meet Fairfax County foster parents, Tremayne and Bryant. This couple received their first foster care placement, Smith, on July 13, 2020, when he was only 11 days old. So far, this has been their only placement and it resulted in the family adopting Smith. Learn more about Tremayne and Bryant’s story and how they work together as a team with the department to keep Smith connected with his birth family and relatives. Check out their video.
These are the true stories of Fairfax County Foster Care and Adoption. They are stories of hope, endurance, acceptance, sacrifice, belonging, and most of all love. These success stories reveal how lives have been improved and families formed, reunited, and strengthened through the support of professionals working in foster care and adoption. Check out our success stories.
Check out this interview with Fairfax County Foster Care and Adoption specialist Jessica Moser. Learn about the value of adoption from foster care and ways the Department of Family Services supports families considering this path.
Consulte esta entrevista con Melissa Alba, especialista en Acogida Temporal y Adopción del Condado de Fairfax. Conozca el valor de la adopción desde el acogimiento temporal y las formas en que el Departamento de Servicios Familiares apoya a las familias que están considerando este camino. También puedes escuchar el podcast.
On Tuesday, Nov. 21, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors proclaimed November as Adoption Awareness Month. This is a special time to recognize the powerful love families show when they adopt a child through foster care. It is also a time to raise awareness of the ongoing need for loving homes for children, especially those in sibling groups, those 9 years and older, and children with special needs. Check out the recorded proclamation.
Meet Katie and Zak. Katie is a teacher with Fairfax County Public Schools and a single mom who became part of a large extended family when Zak came into her life when he was 2 years old. Their story shows how foster care and adoption can knit together the lives and hearts of people from different backgrounds, locations, and cultures to make something beautiful and affirming for everyone involved. Learn more about their story and how we help connect children with forever families through adoption. Check out this video to learn more about Katie and Zak’s foster care to adoption journey.
Today, nearly 200 Fairfax County children are in foster care through the Department of Family Services' Foster Care and Adoption Program. When reunification with the birth family or other relatives is not possible, we seek a permanent home through adoption. Check out this video about the journey to adoption for this special family that adopted four brothers.
Meet Danita, a retired teacher turned full-time mom who devotes herself to caring for her growing family of eight children. Over time, as it became clear that the children would not be able to return to their birth families, Danita adopted two sets of siblings and one teenager from foster care. She is caring for another child in foster care. In a home overflowing with such love and laughter, there is never a dull moment. Danita Hardin is licensed and supported by our partner organization, For Children’s Sake of Virginia, which offers therapeutic foster care and services for families. We appreciate their partnership in the creation of this video. Learn more about their story and how we help connect children with forever families through adoption.
Nationally, the theme during adoption month is Empowering Youth to Find Points of Connection. Nearly a quarter of children awaiting adoption are teenagers. Youth leaving foster care without being adopted or without permanent connections face on-going challenges with employment, education, and mental health, as well as have an increased risk of homelessness and human trafficking. So, this timely Children's Bureau campaign seeks to increase national awareness of adoption issues, bring attention to the need for adoptive families for teens in the U.S. foster care system, and emphasize the value of youth engagement. Learn more.
Meet some of the wonderful children awaiting adoption through the Department of Family Services, or check out the state listing of children awaiting adoption throughout Virginia.
Most of these children are older children and youth or sibling groups who can benefit from the support of loving families to help them succeed in life. Please share their profiles and videos to help them find permanent families.
Join the conversation on social media and help raise awareness about adoption from foster care. Use the graphics and messages in our community engagement toolkit to spread the word through social media.
When you first meet Gina Marquez-Rey and Antoinette Robilliard D'Onofrio, the first thing that strikes you is their shared warmth and open personalities. These Latina women have a lot of love to share with others around them and it shows particularly in the way they care for their young son Alejandro. Sharing their Hispanic culture is one way these abuelas make a difference for children in foster care. Learn more in this Hispanic Heritage Month profile.
Las abuelas trotamundos inician su mayor aventura como madres adoptivas. Para más información sobre Gina y Antoinette en español.
Adoption Snapshots catches a glimpse of families brought together through adoption. Parents share in their own words what it was like to meet and then build a bond with the children they have welcomed into their hearts and homes. The Chirino-Mendez Family is a family of nine who adopted two of their six children back in 2009. Read more about their courageous story and the stories of other parents who partnered with our agency to provide permanent homes to children in need. Learn more about Adoption Snapshots.
Between Oct. 1, 2022 and Oct. 1, 2023, 30 adoptions were finalized in Fairfax County.
17% (5) of children adopted were 10 years old and older.
83% (25) of children adopted were 9 years old and younger.
For more statistics about Foster Care and Adoption in Fairfax County, check out these resources.
Our monthly Foster Family Newsletter provides a window into the experiences of foster and adoptive parents, children in care, alumni of foster care, and the resource workers who support them. It also includes pertinent information on a variety of services and supports that are available for Fairfax County foster and adoptive families. Check out the latest newsletter.
