Emergency Foster Care in Virginia: What to Expect When the Call Comes

Emergency placements in Virginia do not arrive with much warning. A licensed foster parent gets a call — sometimes late at night, sometimes on a holiday, sometimes with 30 minutes to decide — asking whether they can take a child who has just been removed from their home. The caseworker on the other end of that call is an on-call worker who may have very limited information about the child. The file is incomplete. The specifics are uncertain.

This is not a failure of the system. Emergency removals happen when there is immediate danger to a child, and the priority is safe removal, not paperwork. What it means for you as a foster parent is that preparation has to happen before the call arrives, not after.

What Triggers an Emergency Removal

Under Virginia law and the Code of Virginia Title 63.2, an LDSS can take emergency custody of a child without a court order when there is probable cause to believe the child faces imminent danger of serious harm from abuse or neglect. The agency must then appear before a J&DR judge within 72 hours to obtain a preliminary protective order.

Emergency removals happen at any hour and for a range of reasons: domestic violence incidents, drug overdoses involving a parent or caregiver, housing instability that creates immediate safety risks, or severe abuse situations. The child may have been removed with no notice, meaning they arrive at your home with nothing — no clothes, no medications, no familiar objects.

The Placement Call: What You Will and Will Not Be Told

When your placement coordinator or an on-call caseworker calls, they are working from the information available at the moment of removal. Virginia law under § 63.2-912.1 (the Foster Parent Bill of Rights) gives you the right to receive available background information about the child before or at the time of placement. But "available" is the operative word in emergency situations.

What you should expect to be told:

• The child's age and gender
• Immediate known medical needs or allergies (if documented)
• Any immediate safety concerns about the child's behavior or history (e.g., known history of fire-setting, self-harm, or aggression)
• Whether siblings are also being placed and whether they are placed together or separately
• The reason for removal, in general terms

What may not be available immediately:

• Complete medical history
• School records
• Psychological or behavioral assessment history
• A clear picture of the case plan or permanency goals

Ask every question on this list when the call comes. If the information is not yet available, document what you were told and what you were not told, and follow up in writing with the placing caseworker the next business day.

Questions to Ask Before You Accept a Placement

Write these down and keep them near your phone:

1. Why is the child being removed, and what are the immediate safety concerns in your home I should know about?
2. Are there siblings, and are they being placed together?
3. Does the child have any known medical conditions, medications they are currently taking, or allergies?
4. Has the child had any prior placements, and why did they end?
5. What is the child's current school, and is transportation an LDSS responsibility?
6. When is the first scheduled contact visit with the birth family, and where does it take place?
7. Who is the assigned caseworker (if different from the on-call worker), and when will I be able to reach them?
8. What do I do if a medical situation arises tonight?

You are not required to accept any placement. You can decline, particularly if the placement would exceed the child limits of your license or if there are disclosed safety concerns your household is not prepared to manage. Declining an emergency placement does not harm your standing as a licensed foster parent.

Preparing Your Home for Emergency Placements

The families who handle emergency placements most effectively are those who maintain a state of readiness between placements. This means:

Basic supplies always on hand. A range of clothing sizes, basic hygiene items (toothbrush, comb, soap), a nightlight, and bedding ready for use on short notice. For families who regularly accept emergency placements, maintaining an "arrival kit" for different age groups saves the middle-of-the-night scramble.

Car seat coverage. If you do not have a car seat appropriate for the child's age and weight at the time of a call, you cannot safely transport the child. Keep an infant/toddler convertible seat and a booster seat in your vehicle if your license covers a range of ages.

Medication storage ready. Virginia regulations require all medications to be stored in a locked cabinet immediately upon arrival. Have a locked box accessible and ready before a child is placed, not after.

Emergency contact information visible. The child's caseworker number, the statewide child abuse hotline (1-800-552-7096), the VDSS after-hours line, and your agency supervisor should be written down somewhere physical — not just in your phone — in case a situation arises when your phone is unavailable or uncharged.

Know your local emergency services. If a medical emergency arises overnight, you need to know where the nearest 24-hour urgent care and emergency room are located, and whether the child's Medicaid (FAMIS) card has arrived or whether you need to use temporary coverage documentation from the LDSS.

After the Child Arrives: The First 24 Hours

The most important things to do in the first 24 hours:

Document the child's condition at arrival. Note any visible injuries, behavioral observations, and the child's emotional state. If you observe bruising, cuts, or other marks that were not disclosed at placement, note them with detail (location, approximate size, color) and report them to the caseworker. This documentation protects you against any future question about what injuries occurred in your home.

Call the FAMIS/Medicaid line to confirm coverage. Every child in Virginia foster care is enrolled in FAMIS. In an emergency placement, coverage may not yet be formally transferred to your address. Get confirmation of active coverage and the child's Medicaid number in writing as soon as the LDSS opens.

Establish a medication log immediately. If the child arrived with medications, begin a written log — date, time, dose, medication name, administrator — from the moment of the first administered dose.

Make contact with the assigned caseworker. If the call came from an on-call worker, identify the regular caseworker as soon as normal business hours resume. Introduce yourself, confirm what information you were given at placement, and identify what is still missing.

Emergency Foster Care and the 120-LDSS System

One consequence of Virginia's decentralized system that affects emergency placements specifically: cross-jurisdictional placements are common. If your local LDSS has no available licensed homes at the moment of an emergency removal, a child may be placed with a family licensed in a different locality.

If this happens to you — if you receive a child from a different county or city's LDSS — clarify immediately which department is the primary point of contact for case decisions, court hearings, and service coordination. The placing LDSS retains legal custody, but your licensing LDSS retains supervisory responsibility for your foster home. The two agencies should coordinate, but in practice, communication gaps occur. Being clear on who to call for what issue saves significant confusion.

For a full guide to Virginia's licensing requirements, financial support, the home study process, and how to prepare for placement — including emergency and respite scenarios — see the Virginia Foster Care Licensing Guide.

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