RAPPahannock Area Foster Families team
Mailing Address:
PO Box 249
Spotsylvania, VA 22553
Physical Address: Directions
9019 Old Battlefield Blvd; 2nd Floor
Spotsylvania, VA 22553
Department Director: Gail Crooks
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Welcome to the RAFFT home page! RAFFT- Rappahannock Area Foster Families Team, is a program with the Spotsylvania Department of Social Services with a mission to recruit, train, approve, and support foster/adoptive/resource parents who can provide loving homes to our area foster children. If you are considering becoming a foster parent, please call or email us and we can tell you about our program and answer any questions that you may have. We also have a packet of information about RAFFT that we can send to you as well.
The first step in becoming an approved foster/adoptive/resource parent is to take a multi-week training class. We offer our training classes several times a year to prepare new foster/adoptive/resource parents for the foster care experience. Both evening and daytime options are available and you can select the one that best fits your schedule. The classes cover a variety of topics including first-hand advice from experienced RAFFT foster parents. Additionally, we provide ongoing help, support and additional training classes throughout the year.
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RAFFT and Social Services Location - As of August 24, 2010 we moved back to the Courthouse area near other Spotsylvania county office buildings. We are now located in the Spotsylvania Courthouse Village near Robert E. Lee Elementary School. You can access the area from Brock Road or the Spotsylvania Courthouse Bypass. You will see a building in the village called the Market Square Building which is across from the pavillion. The physical address is 9019 Old Battlefield Blvd, Spotsylvania, VA 22553. Social Services is located on the second floor and has it's own entrance, the North Entrance, located across from the gravel parking lot. Our mailing address and phone numbers remain the same.
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Winter classes begin in February 2012 - Our next Foster/Adoptive pre-service training classes will begin on Monday, February 6, 2012 from 6-9pm and run for nine consecutive weeks. Our classes meet at the Spotsylvania Department of Social Services. There is no charge to attend our classes but pre-registration is required due to limited space. Please call for more information.
- Daytime Option for Training - We generally hold three training cycles per year. If the fall or winter evening classes don't work for you, please note that we will be offering our summer classes on an adjusted schedule. Classes will begin on June 18, 2012 and the first session is from 6-9pm. The remaining training runs two sessions per day from 9am-noon and 1pm-4pm on June 25, July 16, August 6, and August 20, 2012.
- Orientation - If you aren't sure if fostering is for you, please join us for our next orientaion session on Monday, April 16, 2012 from 6:30-8:00pm to hear more about fostering and the focus of our program. Pre-registration is requested.
- In-Service Training for Approved Families - New State policy requires that all approved foster parents receive on-going training annually. There are many ways to acquire training hours. These include attending RAFFT quarterly in-service trainings, taking on-line courses, attending classes through other agencies/schools, and reading related books/articles/etc. and writing a short summary about what you learned.
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Please Contact Us- We will be glad to tell you more about foster parenting/adoption, and about the RAFFT program. Being a foster parent is sometimes hard work, but the rewards are enormous and you have the chance to significantly change the life of an abused or neglected child.
"Be the change you want to see in the world"
Mahatma Ghandi
Foster Care and Other Options
The RAFFT office is physically located within the Spotsylvania Department of Social Services at 9019 Old Battlefield Boulevard, 2nd Floor, Spotsylvania, VA 22553.
Our mailing address is P.O. Box 249, Spotsylvania, VA 22553.
Our email addresses and phone numbers are listed below: