When Help Is Replaced by Harm: Rethinking Virginia’s Child Welfare System

by Mikayla Havison, VPLC Research Fellow 

Every child deserves the chance to grow up in a safe, loving, and stable family. But in too many child welfare cases, the system chooses separation over support, removing children from their homes when help and resources could have kept the family together. While this may seem like the safest solution, removal often brings lasting harm: trauma, mental health struggles, disrupted support systems, and even changes to brain development. In contrast, keeping families together with the proper support leads to stronger outcomes and safer children.

One of the biggest misconceptions about the child welfare system is that it is full of “bad” parents who do not care about their children. This could not be further from the truth. Oftentimes, a lack of resources—not a lack of love—leads to the state separating a family. A large percentage of families investigated for child maltreatment have incomes below the 200% national poverty line, showing a direct correlation between financial hardship and family separation—also known as poverty-adjacent neglect. If the state provided families with resources for housing, parent education, healthcare, and other needs, these families could stay united, ensuring better outcomes for children.

While keeping families unified is shown to have numerous benefits for both parents and children, Virginia continues to rely on a separation-focused approach in its child welfare system. For the more than 5,000 children in foster care, outcomes are bleak. Once VDSS separates a family, it becomes nearly impossible to reunite them. Nationally, nearly half of children are reunified with their parents after separation—in Virginia, that number is significantly lower. Unless parents in Virginia are inherently worse than parents in any other state—which is most certainly not true—these statistics are alarming.

Virginia also terminates parental rights at a high rate, often leaving children without permanent homes. A significant portion of these children are not adopted and instead remain in foster care. As the state with one of the highest numbers of children aging out of foster care, Virginia is creating a highly vulnerable demographic by not prioritizing unification. Children who age out of foster care are more likely to experience poor educational outcomes, attempt suicide, be involved in the justice system, experience human trafficking, and face lifelong financial hardship.

The majority of families investigated for child maltreatment have incomes under 200% of the federal poverty line (FPL). 200% of FPL for a family of four is $64,300, while a living wage for a family of four in Virginia is $80,000. This shows a direct correlation between financial hardship and family separation, and is also known as “poverty-adjacent neglect,” meaning that a lack of access to resources may give the appearance of neglect.’

How could this be a preferred outcome compared to guiding families toward unification?

Here’s the link to full report.