Beyond the Background Check: Rethinking Kinship Care in Virginia 

At Voices for Virginia’s Children, we believe every child deserves a safe, stable, and loving home, and that when children cannot remain with their primary guardians, family should be the first place we look. Kinship care, the placement of children in foster care with relatives or close family friends, is one of the most evidence-backed practices in child welfare. Yet, in Virginia, outdated barrier crime laws are preventing some of our most qualified caregivers, grandmothers, aunts, uncles, and family friends, from opening their homes to children who desperately need them. 

This session, the Virginia General Assembly has an opportunity to change that. 

What Is Kinship Care, and Why Does It Matter? 

Kinship care refers to the formal or informal placement of a child with a relative or someone with a close prior relationship when they cannot safely remain with their parents. In the formal foster care system, kinship caregivers are licensed or approved to provide placement, making children in their care eligible for the same support and services as children placed with non-relative foster families. 

The research on kinship care is among the most consistent and compelling in all of child welfare. A Campbell Collaboration meta-analysis examining 102 studies involving more than 666,000 children found that compared to children placed with non-relative foster families, children in kinship placements experience 48% less placement disruption, 49% fewer mental health disorders, significantly fewer behavioral problems, and 50% better overall well-being. 

Beyond these outcomes, children in kinship care maintain connections to their siblings, their communities, their cultural identities, and the family members who love them. These connections are not incidental; they are foundational to healthy development and long-term well-being. 

The evidence is clear: when we can safely place a child with family, we should. 

The Barrier That’s Standing in the Way 

If kinship care produces such strong outcomes, the question becomes why more children aren’t placed with family members.  

One significant reason is Virginia’s barrier crime framework, a set of criminal background check requirements that determine who can be approved as a foster parent. Under current law, certain convictions automatically disqualify an individual from serving as a foster parent, with no ability to consider the nature of the offense, how long ago it occurred, or what the person’s life has looked like since. 

Virginia’s barrier crimes list is substantially more restrictive than  federal law requires and more restrictive than most peer states. As a result, a grandmother with a decades-old drug possession conviction, who has been sober for twenty years, raised other grandchildren informally, and is now the most stable and loving presence in a child’s life, can be turned away. That child then enters placement with strangers, experiencing additional trauma on top of what brought them into the foster care system in the first place. 

This is not hypothetical. It is the reality for families across Virginia every day. 

What Research Tells Us About Risk 

Opponents of kinship care reform sometimes raise concerns that expanding placements with relatives could compromise child safety. The evidence does not support this well-intended concern. Studies consistently show that children in kinship care are at no greater risk of maltreatment than children in non-relative foster care, and in many cases, are at lower risk. What matters is a thorough, individualized assessment of the person, the offense, the passage of time, and the specific child’s circumstances. 

Virginia also faces a well-documented shortage of foster families. JLARC has identified this shortage as long-standing and well-known, which has led to Virginia placing children in congregate care, group homes and residential facilities at rates higher than other states. Congregate care is associated with significantly worse outcomes for children than family-based placements of any kind. Every time we turn away a qualified kinship caregiver, we risk placing a child in exactly the kind of institutional setting we know causes harm. 

Legislation Before the General Assembly  

This session, three bills, SB 305 (Pekarsky), HB 632 (Callsen), and HB 1060 (Callsen), would take meaningful steps to address these barriers. 

SB 305 and HB 632 are companion bills that would create a thoughtful waiver process for non-federal barrier crimes. Under these bills, local departments of social services could apply for a waiver when a kinship caregiver has a disqualifying offense and has demonstrated rehabilitation. The process requires assessment of the nature of the offense, time elapsed, evidence of rehabilitation, and the child’s best interests, with the Department of Social Services making the final decision, ensuring rigorous oversight. 

HB 1060 expands existing exceptions for certain drug-related and property offenses when an individual has demonstrated a sustained period of rehabilitation, requiring between 8 and 20 years of clean records, completion of treatment programs, and negative drug tests. 

Federal barrier crimes, including violent crimes, sexual offenses, and any child abuse related crimes, remain permanently disqualified under all three bills. These reforms do not lower safety standards; they create a pathway for individualized assessment of cases that current law treats with a blunt, one-size-fits-all prohibition. 

Children Deserve Connection 

The foster care system exists to protect children during one of the most vulnerable and frightening periods of their lives. Its goal is not simply to place children somewhere safe; it is to help them heal, maintain their connections, and find their way to permanency and stability. 

When we refuse to consider a loving grandmother because of a conviction she has long since put behind her, we are not protecting children. We are denying them the relationships and stability that research tells us matter most. 

Virginia has an opportunity this session to bring its barrier crime framework in line with both the evidence and federal standards, allowing more children to remain connected to family while maintaining the safeguards that keep them safe. 

Take Action  

Virginia’s youth cannot wait. We encourage you to learn more about SB 305, HB 632, and HB 1060 and get involved in advocating for their passage. Using the action alert, urge your state lawmakers to support these evidence-based reforms and help keep Virginia’s children connected to their families. Send a message to your legislators today. 

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