Virginia Code 63.2-906: Foster care plans; permissible plan goals; court review of foster children
A. Each child who is committed or entrusted to the care of a local board or to a licensed child-placing agency or who is placed through an agreement between a local board and the parent, parents or guardians, where legal custody remains with the parent, parents or guardians, shall have a foster care plan prepared by the local department, the child welfare agency, or the family assessment and planning team established pursuant to § 2.2-5207, as specified in § 16.1-281. The representatives of such local department, child welfare agency, or team shall (i) involve in the development of the plan the child’s parent(s), except when parental rights have been terminated or the local department or child welfare agency has made diligent efforts to locate the parent(s) and such parent(s) cannot be located, relatives and fictive kin who are interested in the child’s welfare, and any other person or persons standing in loco parentis at the time the board or child welfare agency obtained custody or the board or the child welfare agency placed the child and (ii) for any child for whom reunification remains the goal, meet and consult with the child’s parent(s) or other person standing in loco parentis, provided that the parent(s) or other person has been located and parental rights have not been terminated, no less than once every two months and at all critical decision-making points throughout the child’s foster care case. If reunification is not the goal for the child, the local board, child welfare agency, or team shall provide information to the child’s parents regarding the parents’ option to voluntarily terminate parental rights, unless a parent’s parental rights have been terminated. The representatives of such department, child welfare agency, or team shall involve the child in the development of the plan if (a) the child is 12 years of age or older or (b) the child is younger than 12 years of age and such involvement is consistent with the best interests of the child. In cases where either the parent(s) or child is not involved in the development of the plan, the department, child welfare agency, or team shall include in the plan a full description of the reasons therefor in accordance with § 16.1-281.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 63.2-906
- Department: means the State Department of Social Services. See Virginia Code 63.2-100
- Federal-Funded Kinship Guardianship Assistance program: means a program consistent with 42 U. See Virginia Code 63.2-100
- Fictive kin: means persons who are not related to a child by blood or adoption but have an established relationship with the child or his family. See Virginia Code 63.2-100
- Independent living: means a planned program of services designed to assist a child age 16 and over and persons who are former foster care children or were formerly committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice and are between the ages of 18 and 21 in transitioning to self-sufficiency. See Virginia Code 63.2-100
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Kinship guardianship: means a relationship established in accordance with § 63. See Virginia Code 63.2-100
- Local board: means the local board of social services representing one or more counties or cities. See Virginia Code 63.2-100
- Local department: means the local department of social services of any county or city in the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 63.2-100
- Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
- State-Funded Kinship Guardianship Assistance program: means a program that provides payments to eligible individuals who have received custody of a relative child subject to a kinship guardianship assistance agreement developed in accordance with § 63. See Virginia Code 63.2-100
- United States: includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-255
A court may place a child in the care and custody of (1) a public agency in accordance with § 16.1-251 or 16.1-252 or (2) a public or licensed private child-placing agency in accordance with § 16.1-278.2, 16.1-278.4, 16.1-278.5, 16.1-278.6, or 16.1-278.8. Children may be placed by voluntary relinquishment in the care and custody of a public or private agency in accordance with § 16.1-277.01 or §§ 16.1-277.02 and 16.1-278.3. Children may be placed through an agreement where legal custody remains with the parent, parents or guardians in accordance with §§ 63.2-900 and 63.2-903, or § 2.2-5208.
B. Each child in foster care shall be assigned a permanent plan goal to be reviewed and approved by the juvenile and domestic relations district court having jurisdiction of the child’s case. Permissible plan goals are to:
1. Transfer custody of the child to his prior family;
2. Transfer custody of the child to a relative other than his prior family or to fictive kin for the purpose of establishing eligibility for the Federal-Funded Kinship Guardianship Assistance program pursuant to § 63.2-1305 or the State-Funded Kinship Guardianship Assistance program pursuant to § 63.2-1306;
3. Finalize an adoption of the child;
4. Place a child who is 16 years of age or older in permanent foster care;
5. Transition to independent living if, and only if, the child is admitted to the United States as a refugee or asylee; or
6. Place a child who is 16 years of age or older in another planned permanent living arrangement in accordance with subsection A2 of § 16.1-282.1.
C. Each child in foster care shall be subject to the permanency planning and review procedures established in §§ 16.1-281, 16.1-282, and 16.1-282.1.
2002, c. 747; 2005, c. 653; 2008, cc. 475, 483; 2009, c. 124; 2011, c. 730; 2016, c. 631; 2019, c. 446; 2020, cc. 224, 366, 934; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, cc. 254, 535.