Roanoke is Ready to Lead on Child Welfare Accountability

by Joe Cobb, Mayor, City of Roanoke
Originally published in The Roanoke Times, January 24, 2026

Last month, the “Safe Kids, Strong Families” report, a review of Virginia’s child welfare laws and the patchwork of state and local agencies charged with protecting children and supporting families, documented serious shortcomings, which families across the commonwealth already know firsthand.

Virginia routinely ranks near the bottom on key child welfare outcomes. Roanoke has one of the highest foster care rates in the state, second only to Norfolk, a city nearly twice its size. We are working to change these outcomes for the sake of our children and families.

The report makes a number of recommendations, and former Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s proposed budget funds some of them, including increased oversight. Accountability is badly needed. But there are effective, evidence-based solutions for improving outcomes for children and families that were not included in the report.

The first is economic stability. Research consistently shows that family poverty is one of the strongest predictors of child welfare involvement. One widely cited study found that a $1 increase in the minimum wage is associated with a 10.8% reduction in reports of child neglect. Preventing families from falling into crisis is one of the most powerful child-safety tools available. We must reform the state’s family support framework.

The second omission is multidisciplinary legal advocacy for parents in child welfare cases. This model, used successfully in dozens of states, pairs attorneys with social workers and parent advocates to ensure families receive meaningful legal representation and the support they need to safely reunify.

Virginia is an outlier. While at least 31 states have drawn down hundreds of millions of federal dollars to implement this approach, Virginia has left those funds untouched for seven years. Legislative studies, including those conducted by the Office of the Children’s Ombudsman, have repeatedly recommended this model.

Multidisciplinary legal advocacy works. States that have adopted the model have seen faster reunification, fewer children entering foster care, reduced time in care, and better long-term outcomes. The approach strengthens accountability in three concrete ways: by requiring child welfare agencies to meet legal standards in every case; by ensuring courts receive complete, accurate information; and by connecting parents with services that address the root causes of system involvement: housing instability, untreated health needs, or lack of childcare.

This is not theoretical. It is proven, cost-effective, and already authorized under Virginia law: in 2024, the General Assembly passed legislation allowing up to two pilot multidisciplinary parent representation offices to use available federal funds. Roanoke is ready to be one of them. Over the past year, a coalition of Roanoke judges, Department of Social Services leaders, the city attorney’s office, and Legal Aid Services of the Roanoke Valley has developed a concrete plan to launch a pilot program. The community has done the work. The infrastructure is in place. The will is there.

Ironically, while Roanoke has been singled out for poor child welfare metrics, it is now positioned to lead the state toward solutions. A modest investment of combined state and federal funding could launch a ready-to-go program that improves prevention, permanency, and accountability, and provides a model for the rest of Virginia.

This is a bipartisan solution. The federal policy changes that allow states to fund multidisciplinary parent representation began under President Donald Trump, were expanded under President Joe Biden, and have since been strengthened. Organizations across the ideological spectrum support this approach, as do courts that have ruled meaningful legal representation for parents is a constitutional necessity, not a luxury.

Small budget amendments from state Sen. David Suetterlein and Del. Sam Rasoul to take advantage of those funds could make this a reality this year. As Justice Sandra Day O’Connor pointed out in a landmark decision, a parent’s relationship with their child is “the oldest of the fundamental liberty interests recognized by this Court.” Virginia’s Supreme Court affirmed that preserving families is a core responsibility of government itself. Yet Virginia continues to rely on an under-resourced system that fails children, parents, and taxpayers alike.

Roanoke is ready to show a better way forward, one that protects children, strengthens families, saves public dollars, and finally brings accountability to a system that has lacked it for far too long.