09/01/2026
“The foster care system is traumatic, and if there’s anything that our system can do to make it less traumatic, we should do that.”
The opioid crisis doesn’t just affect the individual; it also has long-term impacts on the children involved.
Grace Carpenter, Henrico County’s Permanency Division Manager, explains that kinship care is essential to providing comfort, stability, and familiarity to children impacted by the opioid crisis, keeping them out of the foster care system and within the care of someone they love.
An investment in kinship care is an investment toward a child’s future.
September is National Kinship Care Month. Across our Commonwealth, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and close family friends are quietly stepping into one of the most important roles there is — raising a child when their parents cannot.
This month, we honor these kinship caregivers and the extraordinary difference they make — one family at a time.
If you know a kinship caregiver, tell them they're seen. And if you are one, thank you.