Introduction to Virginia's Foster Care: 'Crawling Through Broken Glass'

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EMMA MALINAK, HOST: Welcome to Virginia’s Foster Care: ‘Crawling Through Broken Glass.’ My name is Emma Malinak. I’m a student journalist at Washington and Lee University. This semester, I worked on a reporting team with five other students to investigate Virginia’s foster care system. 

During our three-month investigation, we found that the social services system in Virginia is weighted against parents.

First, the state’s Department of Social Services (DSS) isn’t meeting its legally mandated goal of reunifying families after children are removed from homes.

Second, parents don’t receive adequate legal support in the courts. 

Third, social workers don’t have the time or resources to help parents make homes safe enough to return children.

Last, officials at the state’s DSS headquarters in Richmond have virtually no power to hold Virginia’s 120 local social services offices accountable when they treat parents unfairly.

The Virginia Poverty Law Center’s Valerie L’Herrou says parents who get tangled in the foster care system are in crisis. She says many of them face poverty, struggle with mental health conditions, and are addicted to opioids and other drugs. She says DSS demands only add to the stress of losing a child.

VALERIE L’HERROU: “These parents are already crawling through broken glass…And so when you add all this extra broken glass, they can’t make it.”

MALINAK: Over the course of five episodes, we will examine how parents, children, attorneys, social workers, and advocates navigate this field of broken glass. 

Melos Ambaye follows four women caught in a relentless battle for custody of their children in the first episode, “Moms Wrestle Goliath.”

Claire Hamlet reports on the daily challenges that social workers face, in the second episode, “Case Workers Face Front Line Chaos.”

Luke Fountain tracks the barriers that parents face in the legal system as they work toward reunification with their children in the third episode, “Parents Can’t Win.” 

Ruby Gregg explains what happens when reunification goals fail and children age out of the foster care system in the fourth episode, “Teens Lost in the Shuffle.”

Chas Chappell introduces advocates who are filling gaps in the foster care system in the fifth episode, “Churches Step Up.” 

To read the full story, visit our investigative reporting page on the Rockbridge Report’s website at rockbridgereport.wlu.edu. 

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Music credit: “Mystery Box” by Amir Marcus