Foster Care & Adoption
About the Program
The Up Center specializes in placing children and adolescents with varying needs in caring foster homes. We provide a safe, nurturing, teaching home environment for children at a time when they most need it. The Up Center strives to find the best matches possible between child and foster parent and provides ongoing care and support for both.


What Makes Us Different
Our Impact
In 2021, our team:
Hosted
77
information sessions
Placed
6
children for adoption
Reunited
18
children with their birth family
“We had a great experience with The Up Center. Our clinicians were caring, empathetic and supportive. They showed love to our kiddos and our family as a whole. I believe that The Up Center is truly impacting lives for the better every day.”
—K. Berry
“Jen and I are so impressed with the Up Center as a whole. That certainly applies to Sheridan but also everyone that we have had the pleasure of dealing with. The kid’s safety and growth are clearly your #1 priority”.
—The Dalton Family
“It’s been the most challenging and most rewarding experience, amazing in the best and sometimes the very worst ways. I can say with zero doubt that we have worked alongside the best of the best by being with The Up Center. You will never tell me differently”.
—The Cholewinski Family

Sharon Reams, MSW
Supervisee in Social Work

Raini Wimbro, MEd

Natasha Beamon, BS

Holly Cahill B.S.

Sabrina S. Carr, MPA

Rebecca Gregory, MSW
Supervisee in Social Work
Rebecca is the Intake Coordinator for Foster Care and Adoptions. She joined our foster care team in 2018. Rebecca uses her clinical background in trauma and attachment to ensure that the time children are in our care can be filled with healing and growth as they move towards permanency.

Joseph Massenburg, BA
Joseph has been with The Up Center since 2006. He started as an In-Home Clinician and now works in Foster Care as a Therapeutic Family Clinician. Joseph loves working with the children and families to assist in their growth and progression.

Victoria Smallwood, B.S.
Our foster parents are everyday heroes. Please consider joining our team so we can help youth in foster care maximize their full potential.
Register for an Upcoming Foster Care Information Session
Fostering a child can be one of life’s most rewarding experiences. If you are interested in making a difference in a child’s life and are willing to open your heart and your home, please consider becoming a foster parent.
Fostering a child offers numerous benefits to prospective parents including: creating a strong bond through a shared goal and experience within your own family, learning soft skills that are applicable to other areas of your life, such as patience, compassion, and empathy, making a positive contribution to your community and inspiring others, and providing a safe haven and support system for children who need it most. Fostering does offer monetary allowances for your service and to ensure the proper care of the child. Substantial tax credits are also provided for foster parents.
We are currently looking for adults—single, married, divorced, LGBTQIA+ —to provide a loving home to a foster child. Please take the short quiz below to determine your eligibility.
Our Mission
We are committed to partnering with children, families, and communities to improve lives and outcomes through prevention, intervention, and support services.
Contact Us
Location: 150 Boush St, Suite 500, Norfolk, VA 23510
Phone: (757) 965-8638
Fax: (757) 333-3274
How You Can Help
Children who enter our Foster Care program often need clothing, diapers, formula, books, suitcases, etc. At The Up Center, we ensure that every child has access to NEW essential items purchased especially for them. To see a list of items frequently requested by families, including items for children, please visit our Amazon Wish List.
During the back to school season, many children need school supplies, backpacks, coats, shoes, etc. During the holidays, we purchase gifts, toys and books for children in our program and host an Annual Holiday Party. If you would like to help our team support foster children in our care, please email us at development@theupcenter.org or make a donation to The Up Center here.
Our Mission
We are committed to partnering with children, families, and communities to improve lives and outcomes through prevention, intervention, and support services.