Extra Special Parents

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Extra Special Parents Extra Special Parents is an innovative agency that provides treatment foster care, adoption services and community based services in Virginia

When families first contact us about fostering, it's important to understand what they're hoping for and what they under...
15/10/2026

When families first contact us about fostering, it's important to understand what they're hoping for and what they understand about the role.

Sometimes people are interested in fostering because they would eventually like to adopt. That's a conversation worth having, because fostering and adoption are not interchangeable, and the plans for children in foster care are based on their individual circumstances and needs.

For many children, foster care is temporary while work takes place towards safe reunification with their parents. Other children may achieve permanency through relatives or trusted adults already in their lives. For some, adoption becomes the appropriate plan.

Foster parents need to be prepared to care for children while supporting the permanency plan established for them, even when that plan may mean saying goodbye to a child they've grown to love.

At Extra Special Parents, we believe honest conversations at the beginning help families understand both the responsibilities and the emotional realities of fostering. It's important that people enter the journey knowing what they're being asked to do and why it matters.

There are many ways to make a difference in a child's life, but understanding the purpose of foster care is essential.

Teenagers sometimes get overlooked when people begin thinking about becoming foster parents. We understand why. Many peo...
13/10/2026

Teenagers sometimes get overlooked when people begin thinking about becoming foster parents. We understand why. Many people naturally imagine caring for a younger child, particularly if that's the parenting experience they're most familiar with.

But teenagers need families who are willing to get to know them too.

They may have strong opinions, established interests, important friendships and their own ideas about what their future should look like. They may also have experienced things that make trusting another adult difficult. Building a relationship takes time, patience and a willingness to listen rather than assume.

At Extra Special Parents, we believe that preparing foster parents to understand the individual needs of the children and young people in their care is incredibly important. That includes recognising that teenagers need both opportunities for independence and the reassurance that dependable adults are there when they need them.

Fostering a teenager isn't necessarily the journey everyone first imagines, but it is one worth learning more about.

If you're considering fostering in Virginia, we'd be happy to talk with you about what caring for older children and teenagers can involve.

In foster care, we talk a lot about permanency. It can sound like a system word, but what sits behind it is deeply human...
06/10/2026

In foster care, we talk a lot about permanency. It can sound like a system word, but what sits behind it is deeply human: every child needs safe, stable relationships with people they can count on for the long term.

For many children, the first goal is to safely return home to their parents. For others, the path to permanency may involve relatives, close family friends or other trusted adults, adoption, or another permanent arrangement based on that child's circumstances and needs.

Whatever that path looks like, the time a child spends in foster care matters too. Foster parents aren't simply providing somewhere for a child to stay while adults decide what happens next. They're caring for a child through uncertainty, supporting important relationships, helping them remain connected to the people and parts of their identity that matter, and sometimes preparing them for a future that looks very different from the one anyone originally expected.

At Extra Special Parents, we know permanency isn't about fitting children into one definition of family. It's about working towards the safest, most stable future for each individual child while respecting the relationships and history they already have.

Because ultimately, children need more than a placement. They need people and relationships they can count on.

National Kinship Care Month may have ended yesterday, but our focus on kinship hasn't.Throughout September we've shared ...
01/10/2026

National Kinship Care Month may have ended yesterday, but our focus on kinship hasn't.

Throughout September we've shared a lot about the people who step forward for children, including relatives, close family friends and other trusted adults who already have an important relationship with a child. We've also talked about something we believe strongly: an existing relationship is an incredible strength, but caregivers still deserve preparation, understanding and ongoing support.

Those conversations aren't tied to a month on the calendar.

At Extra Special Parents, kinship sits within a wider commitment to keeping children connected to the people who matter to them and supporting the adults caring for them. Sometimes that means supporting kinship caregivers. Sometimes it means supporting foster families as they help children maintain important family relationships. Sometimes it means working alongside families and professionals as a child's plan changes.

The circumstances may be different, but the child remains at the center.

As we move through October, we'll broaden the conversation again across foster care, permanency and adoption while continuing to bring what we've learned from kinship into all of it.

Because awareness months are useful for starting conversations. The important work happens all year.

Kinship care often starts with a relationship that already matters. Sometimes that's a grandparent, aunt, uncle, adult s...
24/09/2026

Kinship care often starts with a relationship that already matters. Sometimes that's a grandparent, aunt, uncle, adult sibling or another relative. Sometimes it's a close family friend or another trusted adult who has been part of a child's life for years. What matters is that there is already a meaningful connection between the child and the person stepping forward to care for them.

That existing relationship can bring familiarity, shared history and a connection to the child's family, community and identity at a time when much else may be changing. Those are significant strengths, and they should be recognised. But we should never mistake an existing relationship for being fully prepared for everything that comes with taking responsibility for a child's everyday care.

A kinship caregiver may suddenly need to understand unfamiliar systems, make decisions about school or healthcare, manage changing family relationships and support a child through difficult emotions. At the same time, their own work, finances, relationships, home life and future plans may be changing too. There can be a lot happening for everyone involved.

At Extra Special Parents, we believe good support starts by recognising what caregivers already bring to the relationship and then listening carefully to where they need help. Kinship families shouldn't have to prove their commitment by figuring everything out alone.

Supporting the person who stepped forward is part of supporting the child they stepped forward for. That's something we believe matters during National Kinship Care Month and throughout the rest of the year.

Good kinship support begins with listening.Not every caregiver needs the same information at the same time.A grandparent...
22/09/2026

Good kinship support begins with listening.

Not every caregiver needs the same information at the same time.

A grandparent who has suddenly taken on the care of two school-aged children may have very different questions from an aunt who's been gradually supporting a teenager for several years.

Both bring strengths.

Both may need help navigating things they haven't encountered before.

The starting point shouldn't be assuming what a family needs. It should be asking.

What feels difficult right now?

What don't you understand?

What would make tomorrow easier?

What support already exists around you?

Those conversations help turn support from something we provide to families into something we build with them.

And that's an important distinction.

Kinship caregivers often hold something incredibly valuable for children: their history.They may know the family stories...
17/09/2026

Kinship caregivers often hold something incredibly valuable for children: their history.

They may know the family stories, traditions, important people and little details that help a child understand where they come from.

When so much is changing, those familiar connections can matter.

Supporting children isn't only about meeting their immediate practical needs. It's also about understanding their identity and helping them maintain safe connections to the people, places and traditions that are important to them.

Kinship care gives us an important opportunity to think about both.

Kinship caregivers can find themselves holding several roles at once.You may be caring for a child while remaining a mot...
15/09/2026

Kinship caregivers can find themselves holding several roles at once.

You may be caring for a child while remaining a mother, father, sister, brother or friend to that child's parent.

Those relationships can carry a lot of emotion.

Supporting the child doesn't require pretending those feelings aren't there. It means finding ways to keep the child's needs at the center while navigating the wider family relationships around them.

That's not always straightforward.

It's another reason kinship families benefit from having people around them who understand that the practical side of caregiving is only one part of the picture.

Grandparents often bring something incredibly valuable to kinship care: years of relationship with the child and a conne...
10/09/2026

Grandparents often bring something incredibly valuable to kinship care: years of relationship with the child and a connection to their family history.

But becoming a full-time parent again can change almost every part of everyday life.

There may be schools and services to navigate, new routines to establish and difficult family circumstances to process, all while helping a grandchild adjust too.

We should never assume that because someone has parented before, they already know everything they need for this particular journey.

Every family situation is different.

Good support starts by asking what this grandparent and this child need now.

Kinship care can begin with relatives, but sometimes the important person in a child's life isn't related to them at all...
09/09/2026

Kinship care can begin with relatives, but sometimes the important person in a child's life isn't related to them at all.

It might be the family friend who's been around since they were born, a godparent or another trusted adult who already knows the child and their family.

Those relationships matter.

When we're thinking about who might safely care for a child, looking at the child's whole network can uncover important connections that aren't immediately visible on a family tree.

At ESP, we believe understanding those existing relationships is an important part of understanding the child.

During Kinship Care Month, it's worth remembering that family doesn't always begin with a shared surname.

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