Your donation can help transform the life of a foster child in Southeastern Virginia. This holiday season, we thank those who can donate!
Each year, thousands of children across Virginia—especially in Southeastern communities like Norfolk, Hampton Roads, and Virginia Beach—await the stability and care only foster families can provide. Among these, between 750 and 1,000 children from this region are in foster care at any given time, with a continual shortage of available homes. Your donation helps bridge these gaps, directly transforming the lives and prospects of our most vulnerable kids.
Our Impact
youth found guidance, support, stability & hope through our services
babies & children found safety & care through foster care
rejoined their families or were adopted by their foster parents
The State of Foster Care in Southeastern Virginia
Foster care in Virginia currently serves over 5,500 children, and urban areas such as Norfolk and Richmond experience especially high demand for placements. About half of children in Virginia’s foster system are boys, and half are girls, with 56% Caucasian, 31% African-American, and 10% Hispanic. Nearly half the children in foster care are teenagers, and these older youth, along with sibling groups, face the greatest challenges finding homes.
The average stay in care is 22 months, but this can stretch longer for those awaiting adoption or lacking family connections. Notably, about 20% of foster children in Virginia “age out” at 18 without permanent families, putting them at high risk for homelessness, unemployment, and poor mental health outcomes.
Donate Now
How your donation to The Up Center can make an immediate difference.
Donations for The Up Center play a critical role by providing essentials as well as funding life-enhancing experiences like summer camps, tutoring, counseling, and extracurricular enrichment. This is how The Up Center uses your donations:
- Provides trauma-informed counseling and mental health services
- Connect youth to mentoring and academic support opportunities
- Help families access community programs and enrichment activities
- Support family-focused programs such as Early Childhood Home Visiting
With public resources often stretched thin, your generosity ensures these children have basic comforts and opportunities to thrive.
;)
How your dollars support our Foster Care Program
Every dollar helps a child in need. Here’s the breakdown of your donation:
Why the Need Is So Urgent
In Hampton Roads and the surrounding areas, the number of kids awaiting placement regularly exceeds the availability of foster families—a gap that increases the need for emergency placements and institutional care. Teens, groups of siblings, and children with special needs face the longest waits for safe homes. Your support can change that by helping The Up Center to recruit, train, and support more local families.
How You Can Help: Get Involved Today
There are many ways to support foster children in Hampton Roads today. Every donation makes a real, measurable difference to the foster kids in our community.
- Make a one-time or monthly donation
- Donate gift cards using our Amazon Wishlist
- Volunteer as a mentor, tutor, or at community events
F.A.Q.
Everything you need to know about supporting the Foster Care program at The Up Center
There are usually between 750 and 1,000 children in foster care in this region, with many awaiting foster or adoptive homes.
Yes, when you donate to a registered nonprofit, your gift is generally tax-deductible.
Monetary donations so The Up Center can use the funds in the most needed areas.
Privacy rules often prevent sponsoring individual children, but you can fund targeted programs such as Foster Care, Team Up, or Early Childhood Home Visiting.
Consider volunteering, becoming a foster parent, or running a donation drive at your workplace or organization.
There are more opportunities to get involved with The Up Center. Click here.
The Long-term Benefits of Donor Support
The impact you make when you donate to The Up Center is not just a one-time impact. Our foster care program helps children achieve lifelong resilience and success. Your ongoing donation helps foster children in Southeastern Virginia build brighter, more successful futures. The foster children at The Up Center are:
- More likely to graduate from high school and attend college
- Equipped with emotional and social skills to break cycles of poverty
- Connected to caring adults, giving them a sense of belonging and security
