Norfolk Friends of Foster Care is off to a great start in part due to our close relationship with the Norfolk Department of Human Services. Through our contacts there, we are able to guide potential foster parents in the right direction and provide resources for foster parents and children after placement.
This month we’re highlighting some of the wonderful people we work alongside at DHS.
LaCora is the Family Services Supervisor at DHS. In her current position, she strives to reunify foster children with their biological parents or relatives.
LaCora hasn’t always worked in Family Services, though. She first became interested in working in foster care when she interned in Culpeper, Virginia, and realized she wanted to move on to an area where there were much more foster children in need of assistance. After her time at Old Dominion University, she progressed from working in the resource department to a Family Services Worker II, and then to where she is now.
Because of her path through DHS, LaCora is well-versed in almost every aspect of foster care. She has worked with potential foster parents, training them and providing resources so they are well-prepared to take in foster children. She has provided assistance for foster parents after they have taken in children, making sure they work through difficult situations so the children remain in a stable home. She has also worked with foster teenagers as they prepare for independence, and with mothers who are in foster care to help them prepare for their and their child’s future.
“My favorite part of my job is finding permanency for foster children, whether that means reuniting them with their biological family, or facilitating an adoption,” says LaCora. She is clearly passionate about making sure foster children feel a sense of stability, explaining that the process of moving from home to home can be a huge stressor for children. Emphasizing the importance of focusing on the effects of being in foster care on children, she says that getting the biological parents back on track and maintaining an open line of communication between the parents and foster parents can make all the difference.
Thank you, LaCora, for all that you do for Norfolk Friends of Foster Care and the Norfolk Department of Human Services!
