Who are Virginia's foster parents?  They are your neighbor, your minister, the bus driver, the soccer coach.  They are parents who face the same challenges as typical families in raising their children--setting limits, providing supervision, addressing behavior challenges, coping with educational needs and learning obstacles, etc.

Locating services, finding support, and accessing resources is often a maze for even the most experienced, most educated, and most driven parent.  Add to that the additional challenges of coping with a lack of history of the child, missing or lost medical records, working with multiple public service agencies, multiple service providers, birth families, specialized physicians, therapists, school systems, and legal systems...the task of providing care can be daunting.

With over 8,000 children in foster care in Virginia, FACES wants to support the families serving Virginia's children.  FACES is also committed to recruiting more families to ensure children have a home, and promoting permanency for Virginia's youth.

Foster Care Policy Manual State of Virginia - Learn firsthand the policies which impact birth families, foster families and the children who are involved in foster care in the state of Virginia. This will help you be prepared to respond knowledgeably about how the system works.

WHAT ARE THE BASIC FOSTER CARE MAINTENANCE RATES?

Foster parents receive a payment to cover some of the costs associated with caring for children from the foster care system. If the child is IV-e eligible, then the payment is comprised of state and federal funds. If the child is not IV-e eligible, then the payment is comprised of state and local funds. Regardles of the funding source the following basic maintenance rate applies:

Children 0-4     $448 per month

Children 5-12    $525 per month

Youth 13 +         $666 per month

Maintenance payments are expected to cover some costs for adding children into your home. In addition, each year the state provides for a annual clothing allowance of approximately $350.

WHAT IF CHILDREN REQUIRE MORE INTENSIVE SUPERVISION/CARE?

Virginia is in the process of establishing a structured process for determing when and if a child needs additional supervision. A tool referred to as the VEMAT (Virginia Enhanced Maintenance Assessment Tool) will begin to be used on October 1, 2009. The development and implementation of this tool is mandated by both federal regulations and state law. The proposed regulations governing the tool and its use will be presented to the State Board of Social Services at its October meeting. Families can sign up for Advocacy Alerts on the FACES home page to receive information about the public comment for this regulation and other advocacy activities.

The VEMAT will be administered by a trained rater during a team meeting which must include the foster parent(s). The emotional, behavioral, and physical/personal needs are the areas rated on a scale of 4-36 with rates ranging from $320-$2880 per month (based on score). Foster families should be aware that the VEMAT process may result in fluctuations of rates paid to the home based on the changing needs of children. The tool will be required to be readministered each year.

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