Virginia’s Office of the Children’s Ombudsman is still pretty new.
The independent agency, which investigates complaints about local social services departments and advocates for policies to support youth who are receiving child protective services, was created by a 2020 Virginia law to improve the child welfare system.
There’s just one problem: Young people in foster care had no idea the office existed.
Legislation sponsored by Del. Rip Sullivan, D-Fairfax County, in the House of Delegates and Sen. Saddam Salim, D-Falls Church, in the state Senate, aims to change that.
The measure, which passed unanimously by both chambers, would require that local social services departments provide children 12 and up who are in foster care with information about the ombudsman’s office. It also would allow the office to maintain confidentiality if a child reaches out with a complaint.
The legislation now awaits a signature from Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
The change may seem small, but it could be empowering for people like Ava Greenway. The 18-year-old Craig County resident said she often felt that she wasn’t getting the information she was supposed to receive when she was in foster care as a teenager. She didn’t know that an office had been recently created to help if she wasn’t getting answers from local social services.
The proposal likely wouldn’t have existed without insights from Greenway and other students at Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke.
Program for college students revealed information gap
The legislation was born from an event for Great Expectations students.
The program helps community college students who were in foster care after age 13. Great Expectations started in 2008 as a pilot program in five schools, including Danville, New River and Southside Virginia community colleges. Now it’s available statewide and includes services such as helping students complete financial aid forms, search for jobs and access tutoring.
A half-dozen students from Virginia Western traveled to Richmond for an August conference celebrating the program, which included a legislative advocacy workshop led by the Virginia Poverty Law Center and Voices for Virginia’s Children.
Student ideas from previous workshops run by the two organizations have a track record of turning into legislation.
A law passed during the 2019 session made it easier for foster children and foster parents to get car insurance policies for young drivers, and a 2020 budget amendment provided funding for car insurance premiums and driver’s education for foster youth.
Another law signed in 2019 required local social services departments to request credit freezes for children in foster care to reduce the risk of identity theft.
When it came time for the Virginia Western students to present their ideas during the August workshop, they proposed an oversight agency for foster care.
Valerie L’Herrou of the Virginia Poverty Law Center said she asked the students how such an agency would be different from the Office of the Children’s Ombudsman. Students from across all the participating community colleges said they’d never heard of that office.
“I thought, well, that’s a huge problem,” L’Herrou said.
Greenway, a nursing student, was stunned to find out there was already an office established to monitor the foster care system.
In a February interview on campus, she talked about how entering foster care felt like having her rights stripped away, with no say in where she lived or went to school — and no one to talk to if she felt like her case wasn’t being handled correctly.
“And they’re telling us, ‘Oh, hey, you’re actually supposed to have that.’ We were all taken aback,” she said.
Bills offer confidentiality to children who lodge complaints
L’Herrou called Eric Reynolds, executive director of the Office of the Children’s Ombudsman, and asked if adding children to the list of people who receive information about his office would dramatically increase the workload there. Currently, local social services departments are required to provide contact information for the office to parents and foster parents.
Reynolds told her no, L’Herrou said, but asked that the bill include language allowing youth who contact the office to remain confidential if they wish, as long as they aren’t in danger.
“I want to be able to give that choice to the kids that contact us,” he said in an interview. Reynolds said that right now, his office contacts the local agency that has custody if it wants to speak with a child in foster care.
Most complaints come into Reynolds’ office from parents, foster parents and other family members, he said. “I can count on two hands how many complaints we’ve received from kids themselves.”
He recalled hearing from siblings in Southwest Virginia who had been in foster care for a while and were housed separately. “Their biggest complaint was that the agency had a lot of limitations on the way that they were able to talk to and visit with each other. That was heartbreaking because they really were very close and really wanted to maintain contact,” he said.
The office advocated for the local agency to “lighten up on some of their restrictions” so the siblings could interact more, Reynolds said.
L’Herrou worked with Sullivan’s office to introduce the bill in the House, where Dels. Sam Rasoul, D-Roanoke, and Terry Austin, R-Botetourt County, signed on among a handful of co-patrons.
“Rule number one in this body is never fall in love with your bills,” Sullivan said when he introduced HB 1777 in subcommittee in January. “But I always fall a little in love with bills that are brought to me by young people.” Sullivan described the bill as a simple one that could make a difference for young people in the foster care system.
Great Expectations students watched that subcommittee meeting together online with their program coordinator, J.W. Taylor, though they didn’t get a chance to speak on the bill.
Taylor planned a mid-February trip for Great Expectations students to visit the General Assembly Building to meet with the bill’s sponsors. Greenway was excited about the trip, but it ended up getting canceled due to inclement weather.
Greenway hopes the legislation empowers young people in the foster system to speak up if they have concerns about their care. “I think it’s just really important that these kids do know that they have their rights,” she said.
And she wants young people in situations like hers to keep looking toward the future, even if the present is difficult. “Just because you’re in a bad situation doesn’t mean you’re not going to go anywhere in the world,” she said.
