Our View of the Legislature – Children in Foster Care
2025 Virginia General Assembly
February 26, 2025
During the now-concluded 2025 session of the Virginia General Assembly, we saw significant progress towards addressing the needs of children with disabilities when they age out of the foster care system.
Importantly, the final budget bill included a requirement that the Department of Social Services assess how these children might be able to retain all or some of their federal Social Security or Veterans Affairs benefits. DSS must report their assessment to relevant legislative committees by November 1, 2025. dLCV looks forward to working with DSS to develop a plan that will support these children.
Here are some foster-care related bills that were adopted by the legislature and that await a decision from the Governor:
HB 2457 (Glass) requires local departments of social services to apply for federal benefits on behalf of children in foster care where eligible, prohibits the use of military survivor benefits to pay for foster care, and requires that they place the benefits in an appropriate trust instrument. This is a tiny step forward. It is expected to benefit fewer than 20 children. It will give some local DSS offices experience in applying for benefits and putting those benefits into trust accounts, however.
SB 818 (Favola) requires social services to notify a child in foster care and others involved in the child’s life if the child is eligible to receive certain federal benefits. The bill provides important due process protections to children in foster care.
HB 1777 (Sullivan) and SB 1406 (Salim) require the Department of Social Services to provide the contact information for the Office of the Children’s Ombudsman to a biological parent, prospective adoptive parent, or foster parent; as well as to any child in foster care age 12 or older. The bill states that if a foster child files a complaint with the Ombudsman, the Ombudsman need not gain the consent of the foster agency in order to communicate with the child.
This important bill regarding foster care failed:
SB 773 (Favola) failed for lack of funding in the final budget. The bill would have required local departments of social services to develop housing plans for children leaving foster care due to age, with options for the youth. The bill had a cost of less than $500.00 a year, and was included in the Senate budget proposal, but was not in the final budget.
dLCV’s mission is to advance independence, choice and self-determination; protect legal, human and civil rights; and eliminate abuse, neglect and discrimination of people with disabilities, including children with disabilities who are in foster care.