On November 29, 2022, we will celebrate Giving Tuesday, a global giving event that encourages people from around the world to a support a non-profit organization of their choosing. Giving Tuesday donations have had a direct impact in our community.
We provide an array of services to adults, families and children in our community. Services include: adult mental health support, therapeutic and emergency foster care, pre and post adoption support, community based services, supervised visitation, mentoring and outpatient therapy. We have two locations to serve our clients in Chantilly and Woodbridge VA. We have a culturally diverse staff that is professional and well trained in a multitude of human services fields. We believe in giving back to our profession and community and has always provided training to area colleges for students in need of practicum experience.
Your Giving Tuesday contribution will assist with the monthly stipend for Foster Parents is generally not sufficient to cover basic living costs for the foster children.  The Foster Parents usually pay out-of-pocket for these items.  We will use some of your donation to purchase gift cards for gas, clothing and grocery stores to help these generous and loving people.

We’ve all heard the opening lyrics from the popular Andy Williams holiday classic “It’s the Most Wonderful Time, of the Year” and associate it with family, friends, love, and laughter. While many of us are excited at the prospect of seeing family and friends, a foster child, unfamiliar with your family holiday traditions, might be more than a little nervous! We’ve compiled a few tips to make the holidays enjoyable for both you and your foster child!

1. Introduce them to your family in advance, if possible. Meeting a lot of people at once can be overwhelming for anyone, and even more so for a child who’s new to your family. Everyone else already knows one another which can often lead to a foster child feeling shy or even left out. If you’re able to arrange for short, individual visits with family and friends leading up to the holidays, please do! This allows your child time time to process each introduction at a slower pace paving the way for a much smoother time during major holiday gatherings..
2. Be mindful of their privacy and confidentiality. Don’t allow family members and friends to pry into the backstory of foster children in your care. Alert them, in advance, what topics are off-limits to avoid any potentially unpleasant incidents. Focus on the present. Have a discussion with your foster child and ask them how they would like to be introduced and what information, if any, they would like to share.
3. Help them make or purchase gifts and holiday cards. As much as children love receiving gifts, like adults, they often like to give gifts and will beam with pride as they watch the gifts being opened! Ask your child to make a short list of the people they would like to purchase or make gifts for. Set a small budget and help them shop, gather gift-making supplies, and create their heartfelt gifts.
4. Discover and encourage their traditions. Have a chat with your foster child and ask them about any positive holiday traditions they had prior to living with you. Ask them which traditions they would like to incorporate into your holiday traditions to help make them feel like part of the family.

All in all, the holidays should be an enjoyable time for everyone. Armed with these tips, we wish you and yours a wonderful holiday season!

Above all, don’t expect instant results and allow room for flexibility as the transition begins.  Be transparent and predictable.  Children thrive in stable and familiar environments during times of change and, ultimately, look to you for guidance, love, and support.
Best wishes to you and yours as you embark on this fulfilling journey together!

The Washington Family
Azellya, Camellia, Jaden and Moma Washington
Our story began in the still of the night, March 2017, I received a call from “For Children Sake of Virginia” and “The Manassas Social Services” stating that they had my children at the office ready for pick up. I met three little children that changed my life forever.
Ever since that day we have been inseparable.  In 2019 our adoption was finalized and my children were selected and not expected. The judge cried and I cried as well.
Thank you Lord for the gift that you gave me in 2019.

If you have siblings, think about all of the memories you share with them from when you were younger. Watching cartoons, walking to the bus stop, maybe sneaking a snack out of the kitchen, even bickering on car rides or arguing over who broke something in the house.
Did you know that approximately two-thirds of children in foster care in the United States have a sibling in care? Especially for children entering foster care, their siblings share a special bond with them. For many, their siblings were the support system for them through an abusive or neglectful situation.
Now imagine leaving your home, being separated from your parents; and then, on top of everything, getting separated from your siblings, one of the only constants who you shared your life with.

Why Do Siblings Get Separated?
Unfortunately, many foster parents don’t have the space in their home for multiple children. Even those that have space may not want to take on the responsibility of multiple children, or aren’t comfortable with some of the siblings ages or needs. While child services will always do everything they can to keep siblings together, they unfortunately can’t always find homes to take on siblings.
What Happens When Siblings Stay Together?
Siblings who are placed in the same foster home together typically have fewer moves from home to home, probably because they are facing some comfort in their homes and able to focus on settling in. They have better grades and more emotional stability. Siblings who are placed together are also associated with better permanency outcomes and are more likely to leave foster care together than if they are separated.
What Happens When Siblings Are Separated?
When siblings get placed in different homes, some are able to move together later, or visit each other frequently. However, many children are not reunited with their siblings. These kids are more stressed without their siblings, and are more likely to run away or have to switch homes due to behavioral issues. They are also less likely to reunite with their siblings after leaving foster care.
​

What Can I Do To Help?
If you’re interested in fostering, give us a call or email today at 703.817.9890 or info@fcsva.org! You can learn more about the support you can get from our case management and our team here at For Children’s Sake. You can also email or call to learn more about our donation needs. Taking multiple siblings on at one time can create a lot of financial stress on a home, and donating clothes, games, toiletries, and more can make a huge change!
Thanks to AdoptUSKids and ChildWelfare.Gov for the statistics!

Resilience is the ability to bounce back from difficulties; whether that’s getting sick, experiencing grief, losing friends, failing tests, etc. For foster children, this includes bigger changes, such as adjusting to new foster homes, schools, seeing family at different cadences, and more. During a COVID world, this means changing to virtual school, adjusting to not being in activities, seeing friends, etc. Parents and children alike, in and out of foster care, are being tested on their resilience during these trying times. So, how can you help build resilience for the children in your care?

The best way is to show them how you handle it; positive modeling of your emotions provides an example for children on how they can help! When you’re facing a stressful situation or unexpected change, talk it out. Label your emotions and show them how you know how you feel (‘I am feeling anxious – my heart is beating so fast and I feel like I need to jump around!’). Then, show them how you’re handling it (‘Since I feel anxious, I think I’m going to go for a little walk, and take some deep breathes. In for five and out for five, until I feel better’). This also allows them to see when they may need to rely on others instead of just their own coping skills (‘I’m feeling too stressed to handle this by myself, maybe we can do some coloring together to take my mind off things?’).

Build confidence in your child, so that they know that they are strong and can handle changes. You can do this by promoting healthy risk taking, so they know that sometimes pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, and experiencing some stress, leads to positive changes. If a child has pride participating in a sport, the arts, their academics, etc., they feel connected to a network and know that there are things in life that can bring them joy. They also have the opportunity to build strong relationships so that children know that, even in the face of challenges, they have a support network to fall back on, with you, but also with their community.

Use learning opportunities when a child makes mistakes, so they learn how to work through things on their own. When a child makes a mistake, walk them through the experience and what they were able to learn about it. Ask them questions about their experience so they have an opportunity to consider the situation, instead of lecturing or explaining what happened. They have an opportunity to build strategies for future situations, and you can then help them re-frame the situation positively, so that your children can become optimistic thinkers in the face of challenges.

Wondering if your child is having trouble with transitions or facing challenges, and what strategies you can think of to help with them? Remember you can always reach out to your case manager for tips as well!

It has been a hard year for so many during the pandemic, and this is especially the case for foster children. We’ve had a lot of answer a few questions about how this pandemic is affecting children in foster care, and are sharing our experience here!

How Has COVID impacted foster children?
Many children in foster care are trying to learn a routine. They came from situations that may not have been stable, and may have moved from other foster homes, so are nervous about changes. COVID has turned a lot of that stability they are trying to learn upside-down, and so we see a lot of children struggling more to understand their emotions and feel safe and secure.
Children’s permanency plans may also be impacted. For a lot of children in foster care reuniting with their families, their usually in-person visits with their biological families may be less frequent or have to take place online, which is a tough transition. For some children who are being adopted, court is being held online or taking less cases a day, so this process may be slowed down.

Are there still children coming into care?
Absolutely; we have seen an uptick in foster placements as parents struggle with their own mental health crises and addictions during this pandemic. We unfortunately expect that this trend will continue, and that we’ll see even more children come into care when more children are back in school and can talk to teachers about what may be going on at home.
Unfortunately, due to concerns over the pandemic, less parents are accepting new foster care placements, making foster homes even harder to find than previously.

What is it like being a foster parent during the pandemic?
Much like parenting a biological child right now, it depends from child to child! Some children are doing fine with these changes, whereas others are struggling missing their friends, sports, school, family, and the myriad of transitions they’re going through right now. However, our agency is working incredibly hard to provide support during this tough time; we’ve provided gift cards, masks, gifts, trainings, and support groups to our superhero foster parents, and work closely with social services, teachers, medical providers, and anyone else in your child’s life to make sure everyone is getting what they need.

What do foster children need right now?
First and foremost, they need a home. We are in need of parents to provide both short term foster care (can be as short as only a couple of days, to help provide a break to current foster parents) or longer term foster care (can be up a year or more).
​We’re also always looking for donations to help our foster parents out. Whether that is a gift card, school supplies for at-home learning, arts and crafts, board games, toys, or other activities, hygiene products and clothes for new children in care, or almost anything else, our families would love the support.

Call us at 703-817-9890 or email info@fcsva.org today to learn more and help out.

We’re back-to-school, and school is tough this year! Whether you’re 100% virtual, hybrid, or in-person entirely, there are a lot of adjustments happening. What are some ways you and your family can get into the groove?

1. Create a Dedicated Study Space. While this can have pictures, fun colors, etc., and your child should be able to personalize it to make it fun, it should not have toys or distractions. It shouldn’t be near a TV, or in a loud part of the house, and should have easy access to all of your kiddo’s school supplies, so they can sit down and focus entirely.
2. Build a Routine. This should work for you and your family, so may look different family-to-family. Whether this is 30 minutes of hanging out, then homework, then playing, until dinner or 15 minutes of studying interrupted by chores, or something else entirely, your child should know when they should plan to sit down and focus. This helps your child mentally prepare for study time.
3. Write Things Down and Communicate. Whether this is your child putting their notes in a planner, you writing out their agenda, having pictures or magnets to reflect the tasks due for the day, or something else entirely, it helps them prepare for the day they need to create their own to-do list! Be sure you’re reviewing your teacher’s notes as well, so that you can help your child adjust to this year’s expectations.
4. Stay Organized. Make sure your workspace, if you have one at home, is clean, to model organization. Remind your child to keep information neat as well. Especially at the beginning of the year, remind your child to put out their clothes the night before, clean their lunchbox, their backpack, and their home work space.
5. Learn Different Study Styles. Not all children learn the same way, so be sure to help your child understand what style learner they are and educate them on skills associated with this. For example, if your child is a visual learner, having them highlight key information, and if they are a auditory learner, have them record themselves reading their textbook and listen to it.

Ask your case manager if you have additional questions or feel like you’ve started off on the wrong foot to help set the children in your care up for success, and they’re happy to help!

As a therapeutic foster care agency, we work with counties all over to find homes for children that county foster homes aren’t able to care for. Unfortunately, teenagers often fall into this group, simply because of their age, and are frequently put into group homes because there are no foster homes available to them. But there are many perks to fostering an older child that people don’t realize!

1. Teens understand their situation

When children first come into foster care, or transition homes, it can be a difficult transition. For younger children, who don’t understand what is going on, this transition can be even more challenging. Frequently, though, older children understand what has been happening in their previous home and be able to grasp why they are in your home now. You can explain their situation to them, and they have a better understanding of what’s going on. In fact, some teenagers even share input on what kind of foster home they think they’d be a good fit in, and can appreciate the safety of your home, more than a younger child can.

1. Older children can communicate their feelings & needs more effectively than younger children

Really young children have a tough time communicating at all, and this is even more so the case when they are emotionally dysregulated and confused. When they cry, they may not even understand why, and therapeutic interventions can be tough for children before they’re verbal or able to share their thoughts. Teenagers, though, are able to express themselves more clearly, both in what they are feeling and in what may be upsetting them, and when necessary, can work with therapists on better sharing their thoughts and feelings. This makes it easier as a parent to understand how to intervene.

1. Teens can be somewhat self-sufficient and can work towards goals

Teens are working their way towards a goal of self-sufficiency. Many teens may already have a basic understanding of money, chores, hygiene, and the importance of setting themselves up for the future. With younger children, you spend a lot more time teaching the basics, but with teens, you can help them hone these skills for building their future!

1. You can share hobbies and interests

While a foster child, and a teenager, may not always want to hang out with you, you are much more likely to have something in common with a teenager. Whether that’s a video game, music, movies, sports, a hobby, or something else, there is likely to be something you can talk about and relate to, whereas younger children you likely don’t engage in many of their activities in the same way.

1. You can mentor and provide a home to someone who would otherwise have no one

When children age out of foster care, they’re left with no safety net. Between 30 and 45% of children who age out of foster care report being homeless at least once by the time they turn 26.
Imagine being able to provide a teenager with somewhere to call home while they start their first job, get their driver’s license graduate high school, move on to higher education, and more. These experiences are not possible for many teens who don’t have a foster home to move into, and can make all the difference in their future.
Want to hear someone’s experience fostering teens? https://fosteringperspectives.org/fpv13n2/minds.htm
More reasons to foster a teen: https://childcrisisaz.org/top-5-reasons-why-you-should-foster-a-teen/
A teen’s perspective on wanting a foster home: https://www.today.com/parents/teen-foster-children-search-place-call-home-t129675
Myths about adopting a teen in foster care: https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/360932-myths-about-adopting-teens-in-foster-care