Bills to help kids avoid foster care, social media safety among final legislation signed by Youngkin

Gov. Glenn Youngkin ceremonially signed legislation Tuesday intended to help children avoid foster care.

“By establishing a robust statutory framework centered on kinship care, we pave a pathway towards permanency for Virginia’s children, ensuring consistent practice across all local social services,” Youngkin said in a Tuesday news release.

Kinship care is the practice of placing children with extended relatives so they can avoid the foster care system. Research shows children placed with relatives experience better behavioral and mental health outcomes, according to the release.

The legislation creates the Parental Child Safety Placement Program to promote and support local social services boards that facilitate kinship care arrangements. Del. Katrina Callsen, D-Charlottesville, and Sen. Barbara Favola each carried the measure in their respective chambers.

“I am proud to say that protecting our children and supporting families in crisis has been a successful bipartisan effort,” Favola, D-Arlington, said in a statement. “It is incredibly important to establish and fund safety net programs that enable families to create stable and loving homes.”

Valerie L’Herrou, staff attorney with the Virginia Poverty Law Center, said the organization appreciates efforts to raise awareness about the importance of kinship care. But she doesn’t believe the bill took the right approach.

“The bill does not even require any data collection, so the public and the legislature will remain in the dark about how often this practice is used, or how many children are affected,” she wrote in an email. “The bill also requires low-income families to enter into formal agreements with local departments without any legal advice.”

Legislation relating to online protections for children’s data and a merger between two educational institutions in Norfolk are among the other final bills that recently received Youngkin’s signature. The governor took action May 17 on the last remaining legislation from the recent session, with his vetoes garnering the most attention.

The data bill prohibits website controllers from processing the personal data of a known child for the purpose of targeted advertising or in order to sell the data without permission from parents.

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“While continued reform is needed, this is a good first step toward protecting our kids online, especially in regards to their online data,” Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg, a Richmond Democrat who introduced the bill, wrote on social media.

The merger bill from Del. Barry Knight, R-Virginia Beach, gave the statehouse and executive branch more power to oversee the new board established by the joining of Eastern Virginia Medical School and Old Dominion University.

Another bill requires the Virginia Board of Education to establish guidelines for handling school-connected overdoses and parental notification policies. Loudoun County Public Schools previously came under scrutiny for its handling of a string of overdoses last year.

Katie King, katie.king@virginiamedia.com