Our mission is to find kinship, adoptive, and foster families for every child in Virginia’s foster system through collaboration with youth, families, and agencies.
We work to recruit and retain foster, adoptive, and kinship families so children in foster care can find permanent, loving families. We do this by sharing the stories, collaborating with other agencies, and educating prospective foster-to-adopt parents. Thank you for taking the first step towards finding a permanent, loving family for every child in central Virginia!
More than 700 children in central Virginia are in foster care, many waiting to be adopted. Each and every child deserves a permanent, loving home!
ABOUT US
Kinship and Adoption
Gabriel and Noah shares what they look forward to with a new family:
“With my family, I would like to live with them, laugh with them, have fun with them...something important to me in a relationship is having each other's back...My friends would describe me as humorous, artistic, loyal, and kind." - Gabriel
“I might have just met you, but I will still care about you so much.” - Noah
Our Mission
JFS Connecting Hearts’ mission is to find kinship, adoptive, and foster families for every child in Virginia’s foster system through collaboration with youth, families, and agencies.
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Contact: Denise Wise-David, BA - Program Manager
Denise is instrumental in connecting relatives, fictive kin, and adoptive families to children and youth in foster care. Her leadership was key in JFS' being awarded the Relative and Fictive Kinship Recruitment and Adoption Through Collaborative Partnership (ATCP) grant, funded by the Virginia Department of Social Services. Denise has also enjoyed providing fictive kinship care to children in her community, using her home as a haven. Denise has many years of experience working in the Human Services field in the private sector from East to the West Coast.
dwise-david@jfsrichmond.org / 804-787-0747 / Facebook / Instagram
Contact: Jackie Cowan, MSW - Case Worker
Jackie is a seasoned human services leader with over 25 years of experience in child welfare and social work practice. She has held various leadership roles in both public and private family service agencies, where she managed federal and state programs and promoted trauma-informed strategies to enhance foster care and adoption services. Currently, Jackie is responsible for the Adoption Through Collaborative Partnership (ATCP) grant, funded by the Virginia Department of Social Services.
jcowan@jfsrichmond.org / 804-282-5644, ext. 249
JFS CONNECTING HEARTS FAMILY ALLIANCE
Begin Your Foster-to-Adopt Journey
The mission of the JFS Connecting Hearts Family Alliance is to support families throughout their foster, adoption, or kinship journey with peer support, education, and mentorship. The JFS Connecting Hearts Family Alliance is open to all foster, adoptive, and kinship families in Virginia. Members receive access to:
- Educational and social activities
- Opportunities to support adoption in Virginia
- Mentors
- Webinars and podcasts
Once you join the JFS Connecting Hearts Family Alliance, you will receive a welcome email with information on how you can engage with us! You will find opportunities for educational supports, peer support, mentoring activities, and events for you and your family to engage in alongside other foster, adoptive, and kinship families in Virginia.
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Connecting Families and Children
Family Building Events
When families express their interest in pursuing adoption, we bring together families, including the child's current fostering families, social workers, and JFS Connecting Hearts staff to share information about the adoption process, the needs of children, and to address the families' questions. We create environments for families and children to come together and learn more about one another in a relaxed atmosphere!
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ADOPTION AWARENESS MONTH
A Hand to Hold
This fall marked 10 years of JFS Connecting Hearts' partnership with WTVR CBS 6 on the multi-media Adoption Awareness Month campaign, "A Hand to Hold"! Three times every day in November, CBS 6 featured children in foster care awaiting loving families. The children featured are often the most difficult to match with a great home: teenagers, groups of siblings, and kids with complex medical needs.
Thank you to everyone who tuned in to CBS 6 or shared our posts on Facebook! With your help, we can expand our reach and connect every child in Central Virginia's foster care system to a permanent, loving family! A special thanks to VA Kids Belong for providing the videos! visit https://www.vakidsbelong.org/
The goal of the campaign is to find these 30 children forever homes, but also to raise awareness about all the other children in need of permanent, loving homes.
"A Hand to Hold" 2023 by the numbers:
- 94 families contacted us to learn more about specific children or the foster-to-adopt process.
- 10 families have already begun working with a LDSS or LCPA toward adopting a child.
- 3,000+ website views
- 706,500+ Facebook views
- 883,000+ watched the features on CBS 6
Facebook: facebook.com/ConnectingHeartsVA
Jump to: About Us • JFS Connecting Hearts Family Alliance • Adoption Awareness Month • CONNECT • FAQ
Foster Care Awareness Month
National Foster Care Month (NFCM) in May is a significant opportunity to spread the word about the needs of more than 391,000 children and young teens in foster care. This year's NFCM theme - "Engaging Youth. Building Supports. Strengthening Opportunities." - shines a light on how we can best support young people and help them successfully transition to adulthood. This theme mirrors one of the Children's Bureau's priorities: ensuring young people leave care with strengthened relationships, holistic support, and opportunities.
"(Family meand to me) Someone who protects me, someone who gives me love, someone you can spend your life with, so I can be loved, so I can feel like I belong." - Joseph
Jump to: About Us • JFS Connecting Hearts Family Alliance • Adoption Awareness Month • CONNECT • FAQ
Contact: Denise Wise-David, BA - Program Manager
If you are interested in becoming a foster or foster-to-adopt parent, would like to get involved in our organization, or want to share your foster care or adoption story, please do not hesitate to contact us!
dwise-david@jfsrichmond.org / 804-349-0786 / Facebook / Instagram
Contact: Jackie Cowan, MSW - Case Worker
If you are interested in becoming a foster or foster-to-adopt parent, would like to get involved in our organization, or want to learn more about the Adoption Through Collaborative Partnership (ATCP), please do not hesitate to contact us!
jcowan@jfsrichmond.org / 804-282-5644, ext. 249 / Facebook / Instagram
FAQ
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