色多多

鈥淓very week I used to say 鈥榳hen do I get to see my mom,鈥欌�� she said Thursday at an event where Gov. Glenn Youngkin launched a push to transform the state鈥檚 foster care system.

Those hours were always filled with tears, and they always ended the same way: 鈥淚鈥檇 have to say 鈥楤ye mom,鈥� and go back to my foster family,鈥� said Jones, who grew up in Chesapeake. 鈥淚 love my mom unconditionally and she loves me unconditionally.鈥�

So, too, do the parents who eventually took her in, she said.

That was several years after 鈥渨hen I was 11 years old, I just gotten off the bus, went inside, got the bag of chips, sat on the bed, put the TV on, and started doing my homework,鈥� she recalled Thursday.

鈥淎 few minutes later, my mom came knocking on the door and told me, 鈥楰atie, I looked outside of my home and saw police cars,鈥欌�� she told advocates gathered for 鈥榮 launch of his 鈥淪afe Kids Strong Families鈥� push.

鈥淚 was physically taken away from my mom and got put into a social services car and saw my home for the last time. I, along with my five other siblings, were taken to social services and put in a room for hours, crying and screaming from our mother,鈥� Jones said.

鈥楬ope and heartbreak鈥�

Youngkin said Thursday that the challenges are huge and feelings are complex when children need to leave their parents鈥� home. He said Virginia needs a more comprehensive way of running a system that does not always work as well as it should.

鈥淲e know all too well that that balance of hope and heartbreak never ends when it comes to foster care,鈥� said Youngkin鈥檚 Secretary of Health and Human Resources, Janet Kelly, speaking of her own experience as a foster parent of a relative鈥檚 baby boy.

Youngkin called Kelly in, three years ago, after hearing reports that as many as 100 children were sleeping in offices at social services departments because they had no place to go.

An intense effort by state, local and nonprofit agencies means it鈥檚 rare these days for any child to do that, Youngkin said.

Another effort, to boost 鈥渒inship care鈥� 鈥� when relatives, take in a child, as Kelly and her husband did 鈥� has produced results.

Kinship care

Kinship care is usually far less traumatic than most of the other options when children cannot safely stay with their mothers and fathers. Youngkin said it鈥檚 now the priority for social services departments across the state.

The kinship care effort has seen Virginia move from last in the nation, with just 13% of children entering foster care finding a kinship care place, to 21% now.

Youngkin wants to bring that total to 35% with newly available financial and social services support for kinship care families.

But there鈥檚 still work to do, he said.

Last year, 71% of children in Virginia who died from abuse or neglect were from families where Child Protective Services had already been involved. This is the branch of local social services departments that is responsible for responding to concerns about neglect or abuse.

Some 40% of social workers doing those heart-rending jobs quit within a year, he said.

鈥淢y own sister had a full career in foster care services in the city of Chesapeake,鈥� Youngkin said, and she eventually, after being there more than 20 years, said, 鈥業 can鈥檛 do this anymore,鈥欌�� Youngkin said.

鈥楾ransformation effort鈥�

鈥淲e are going to initiate a fundamental transformation effort,鈥� Youngkin told the advocates.

鈥淲e鈥檙e going to work together to tackle some of these challenges, to prevent every single child death in the commonwealth of Virginia, to increase our ability to place children in safe homes, to get kids out of congregate care and into families, to supply and support foster families with resources that they need 鈥� and to address the systemic challenges that are inherent in the way our system is set up, with local administration and state oversight and how we work together,鈥� he said.

鈥淲e can do so much better, and that is the effort at hand,鈥� Youngkin said.

Youngkin, who leaves office in January, said he expects to have a detailed plan of action in place by the autumn, including legislative proposals for the 2026 session and any new funding in the final budget he鈥檒l present in December.

鈥淭he story you heard from Katie is really important for us to incorporate,鈥� he said. 鈥淢ost importantly, I want to make sure that we鈥檙e already running in this blueprint and accomplishing things,鈥� when he hands it to the next administration.

He said that includes 鈥渆verything from changing the way we think about (the) way the system works, to changing the way we support that system, from identifying the outcomes that we want,鈥� to making sure the state is measuring and working toward those outcomes.