Best Foster Care Agencies in Virginia: Bethany, enCircle, and How to Choose

One of the first decisions you'll face when starting the foster care process in Virginia isn't paperwork or home inspections — it's figuring out who you're even applying through. Virginia has over 120 Local Departments of Social Services (LDSS) and dozens of licensed private Child-Placing Agencies (CPAs), and the agency you choose shapes everything: your training schedule, how quickly your application moves, and the level of support you receive once a child is placed.

This post breaks down the main tracks and the agencies that come up most often in Virginia.

The Two Main Tracks: LDSS vs. Private CPA

Before comparing agencies, understand the fundamental split.

Local Department of Social Services (LDSS): Every Virginia city and county has one. Fairfax County DSS, Richmond City DSS, Henrico DSS — these are the public agencies that hold legal custody of children in care. Fostering through an LDSS is free, and it's the primary track for families who want to care for children from their own community and are open to the full range of ages and circumstances. Most foster-to-adopt placements go through LDSS.

Private Child-Placing Agency (CPA): Agencies like Bethany Christian Services and enCircle are licensed by VDSS to recruit, train, and supervise their own foster families. They often provide more hands-on support than a public department, and they specialize in particular populations — therapeutic placements, infant care, refugee children. Some charge fees for specialized certifications; most don't charge prospective foster parents for basic licensing.

The 2019 JLARC report found that 71% of Virginia local departments had difficulty recruiting and retaining caseworkers, with vacancy rates as high as 35% in some areas. Private CPAs often operate with smaller caseloads and more responsiveness per family, which matters when you're waiting on a home study interview to be scheduled.

Bethany Christian Services Virginia

Bethany is one of the largest faith-based child welfare organizations in the country, with offices across Virginia including Richmond.

Their Virginia programs focus on:

• Infant adoption — Bethany is a strong option for families specifically pursuing domestic infant adoption.
• Refugee and immigrant foster care — They provide transitional and long-term placements for unaccompanied minors and refugee youth, a significant niche given Northern Virginia's large immigrant population.
• Family preservation (Homebuilders) — An intensive in-home support program, not a fostering track, but worth knowing.

Bethany is explicitly faith-based. They serve families of all backgrounds but operate from a Christian mission. If that aligns with your family's values, their training and ongoing support reflect that culture. If it doesn't, the LDSS track or a secular CPA is a better fit.

enCircle (Formerly Lutheran Family Services of Virginia)

enCircle rebranded from Lutheran Family Services of Virginia and now operates statewide. They specialize in therapeutic foster care (TFC) — placements for children who have experienced significant trauma, have behavioral health diagnoses, or have developmental disabilities.

What distinguishes enCircle:

• 24/7 on-call support for foster families
• Intensive case management and coordination with therapists, schools, and medical providers
• Specialized training beyond the state's standard NTDC curriculum

Therapeutic foster care through enCircle requires additional preparation and often more training hours than a standard license. In exchange, families receive a higher level of agency support and children placed typically receive enhanced maintenance payments calculated through the Virginia Enhanced Maintenance Assessment Tool (VEMAT).

If you're open to children with complex needs and want a high level of ongoing support, enCircle is worth a direct conversation. If you're starting out and want a more typical placement first, start with your LDSS.

Children's Home Society of Virginia (CHSVA)

CHSVA is one of the oldest child welfare agencies in the state. Their focus is permanency for older youth and legally free children — meaning children whose parental rights have already been terminated and who are waiting for an adoptive family.

If your primary goal is adoption rather than fostering, and you're open to older children or sibling groups, CHSVA is a strong option. They also provide comprehensive post-adoption support, which matters given that children who age out of foster care without a family face dramatically worse outcomes.

Virginia Home for Boys and Girls (VHBG)

VHBG operates using a teaching-family model, primarily in group home settings and through specialized therapeutic foster care. They run the John G. Wood School for children who can't succeed in traditional educational settings.

They also have an independent living program for youth aged 17–25 who are transitioning out of care. If you're interested in providing a stable home for an older teen or young adult, VHBG is one of the few agencies with dedicated programming for that population.

How to Choose: Three Questions

1. What age and need level are you prepared for? Standard LDSS placements span all ages, from infants to teens, with widely varying backgrounds. Therapeutic placements through enCircle or VHBG require additional training and emotional bandwidth. Be honest with yourself before you commit.

2. Are you primarily interested in fostering, adoption, or both? If you want to foster with an open mind about outcomes, LDSS is typically the right choice. If you specifically want to adopt a child who is already legally free, agencies like CHSVA work with those placements. Virginia uses concurrent planning — most LDSS foster placements have reunification as the primary goal, with adoption as the backup.

3. How much support do you need? Private CPAs generally offer more personalized support but may have narrower placement profiles. LDSS gives you access to the full local caseload but resources per family can be thin, especially in under-staffed counties.

The Bottom Line

There is no single "best" agency in Virginia — the right choice depends on your family's specific situation, geography, and goals. What matters is that you understand the difference between LDSS and CPA tracks before you start filling out applications, because once you're in the process with one agency, switching causes significant delays.

If you're still sorting through the requirements, training expectations, and home study process before you even approach an agency, the Virginia Foster Care Licensing Guide walks through the full picture — eligibility standards, background check requirements, the NTDC training curriculum, and how the home study actually works — so you can make this decision with complete information.

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