VIRGIN IA’S NE GLE C T E D
FOS TER K I DS
By K i t W h i te m a n
After hearing an advertisement for foster care on the
morning radio 15 years ago, former foster care parent
Donna Niebanck asked herself, “What would be a good
way to help others?” and soon enough she became a
parent to one of the approximately 400,540 children in
the United States foster care system.
According to Nadine Marsh Carter, president and
CEO of the Children’s Home Society of Virginia
adoption agency, 1,400 children in Virginia are waiting
to be adopted or find a home in the foster care system.
But child welfare systems in Virginia have been
criticized for their overall quality and failure to meet
the needs of children in bad family situations. The
Richmond Department of Social Services has even
faced allegations of unlawful coercion by employees,
poor leadership, lack of disclosure of legal documents
for background checks, and intentional child neglect in
the past three years.
Richmond’s WTVR News looked into the
complaints against the child welfare system in
Richmond in December 2012, when a news video
was released showing a Department of Social Services
employee interacting with a man pretend