For Keeps News & Events

Holton reveals foster-care initiative

First lady's 'For Keeps' effort aims to find and strengthen ties to permanent families

By Pamela Stallsmith, Times-Dispatch Staff Writer, Wednesday, January 17, 2007

The logo for first lady Anne Holton's "For Keeps" initiative says it all.

It shows a home with a light on in the window. "And everybody knows parents sit next to that upstairs light waiting for somebody to come home and be safe," Holton said during an announcement about the new program yesterday at the Executive Mansion

Holton will focus on foster-care issues during the remaining three years her husband, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, serves in office.

"Everybody needs permanent family connections to be successful," she said.

Holton served as a juvenile-court judge in Richmond for 7�� years, leaving the bench after her husband won election in 2005.

"As a juvenile-court judge, I met so many older children and young adults in foster care trying to navigate the adult world without the stable family foundations that so many of us rely on," she said in a statement.

"This program addresses the need for older children in foster care to have permanent family connections and community supports to ensure that they develop into successful, independent adults."

About 8,000 children live in foster care in Virginia, she said, about half of whom are 11 or older.

The "For Keeps" program will work with Virginia's human-services agencies and private organizations to find and strengthen permanent families for those older children and those at risk of entering foster care.

Holton announced that the Freddie Mac Foundation is the initial donor, presenting a ceremonial check yesterday for $94,500. The foundation has given more than $201 million to nonprofit groups serving children and their families, mainly in the metropolitan Washington area, since its creation in 1991.

Holton will conduct a listening tour across the state this year to better understand regional issues and learn from successful local programs.

Contact staff writer Pamela Stallsmith at pstallsmith@timesdispatch.com or (804) 649-6746.