The United States Census Bureau reports that over 56,000 children in Virginia are being raised by their grandparents. This is a conservative number for kinship care, since it does not reflect the number of children living with other relatives.

Kinship care is a vital element for preserving family roots when that child is not living with their birth parents. Kinship families are also responsible for preventing thousands of children from entering the the foster care system.

Some kinship families have legal custody, but most are informal arrangements. As an informal arrangement between families members, there are few financial supports for these families and many of the relatives are living on severely limited income. With limited resources and often challenging situations, kinship families are frequently unprepared and find themselves overwhelmed. Finding and securing necessary resources can be an elusive and daunting task.