We’re working to keep children safe with their families by challenging harmful child welfare practices, advocating for community-based solutions, and investing in the resources families need to stay together and thrive. Too often, poverty is mistaken for neglect, leading to unnecessary family separation. We’re pushing for a system that prioritizes prevention, dignity, and long-term stability over punishment.
Our work in this area includes:
Protecting Parental Rights in a Flawed System
In Virginia’s child welfare system, low-income families and families of color are disproportionately separated and often denied a fair chance to stay together. We work to ensure that all parents have meaningful opportunities to participate in their cases and to reunite with their children when safe and appropriate. Our advocacy includes:
- Defending due process rights for parents in child welfare proceedings.
- Challenging systemic bias in investigations, removals, and court decisions.
- Promoting policies that prioritize family preservation and reunification.
- Supporting legal reforms that reduce unnecessary family separation.
Promoting Ethical and Transparent Adoption Practices
Every adoption should center the well-being of children and the rights of families both birthed and adopted. That’s why we:
- Advocate for transparency in the adoption process.
- Advocate for policies that prevent coercion or unnecessary termination of parental rights.
- Promote post-adoption support services to ensure long-term family success.
Keeping Families Out of Foster Care
We work to reduce unnecessary family separations by intervening early and supporting family stability. This includes:
- Providing legal support to parents navigating CPS involvement.
- Advocating for community-based services and alternatives to foster care.
- Helping families understand their rights and access supportive resources before crises escalate.
Our Family Advocacy Team
Naomi Y. Cordova
Legal Administrative Assistant of Legal Assistance for Victim-Immigrants of Domestic Abuse (LA VIDA)
Valerie L’Herrou, Esq.
Deputy Director of the Center for Family Advocacy
Staff Attorney, Family & Child Welfare
Vanessa Paster, Esq.
Managing Attorney of Legal Assistance for Victim-Immigrants of Domestic Abuse (LA VIDA)
Susheela Varky, Esq.
Director of the Center for Family Advocacy and Legal Assistance for Victim-Immigrants of Domestic Abuse (LA VIDA)
Rethinking Virginia’s Child Welfare System
Featured:
When Help is Replaced by Harm: Keeping Families Together
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.
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