Resource Adoptive Foster Families Team

Resource Adoptive Foster Families Team (RAFFT), 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.

First Step

The first step in becoming an approved foster/adoptive/resource parent is to take a 27 hour training that consists of five in-class sessions and four online at-home sessions. We offer our classes several times per year to prepare new foster/adoptive/resource parents for the foster care experience. 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.

Location

We are 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 pavilion. The physical address is 9019 Old Battlefield Boulevard, 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.

Classes

Classes are generally offered two to three times each year. Our classes typically 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.

Our current classes will end on October 24, 2022 and were held in-person for the first time since the COVID pandemic began. The next training series are tentatively scheduled to begin in early 2023 and are also likely to be in-person. Exact dates will be posted as soon as possible. The schedule will consist of 5 classroom sessions held every other Monday evening from 6-9pm and 4 online sessions that need to be completed, at your own pace, in between the classroom sessions.  If you are interested in more information, please call or email one of us (see email on sidebar) to ensure we add you to the invitation list. Space is limited so please reach out as soon as possible. 

Orientation 

If you aren’t sure if fostering is for you, please call us anytime to hear about our program. You can also attend one of our orientation sessions which are held three times per year.  Plan to join us to hear more about fostering and the focus of our program. 

We held our summer orientation session virtually on July 25th and are tentatively scheduled to hold our next orientation session on December 5th from 6:30-8:30pm. Please email one of us to be sure you are put on our invitation list. (Email addresses and phone numbers are listed on the sidebar.)

In-Service Training for Approved Families

State policy requires that all approved foster parents receive at least 10 hours of on-going training annually. There are many ways to acquire training hours. These include:

  • Attending classes through other agencies/schools
  • Attending RAFFT quarterly in-service trainings
  • Reading related books or articles and writing a short summary about what you learned
  • Taking online courses

Every kid is one caring adult away from being a success story. - Josh Shipp