FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Kristin Derlunas
Northern Virginia Family Service
Community/Media Relations
703-219-2123, kderlunas@nvfs.org

Ginny Snaider, 703-219-2184
Special Foster Care Training Coordinator

Life and Love Make for Strong Northern Virginia Partnerships
Foster/Respite Care Training Classes Begin Feb. 12

Oakton, Va., Feb. 2, 2005—Teach a child with special needs about life and watch them teach you more about love than you ever imagined.
That’s the principle that drives Northern Virginia Family Service’s (NVFS) Special Foster and Therapeutic Respite Care Program, which urgently needs local caring families to join its next series of foster/respite care training classes.
Classes begin Saturday, Feb. 12 at the Oakton NVFS office at 10455 White Granite Dr. The 9 a.m.-5 p.m. classes then run concurrent Saturdays ending Feb. 26. When completed, parents will be pre-certified to have a child with special needs placed in their homes. More than 6,000 special-needs children in the Northern Virginia area alone are in need of temporary homes, compared to 600,000 nationally.
“Special needs children who have been abused or neglected need caring, committed foster or respite parents within our community,” says Maggie Wilkinson, NVFS Foster and Respite Care Training Coordinator.
“These traumatized children require help and understanding from both our full-time foster and part-time respite parents where care can be as little as one weekend a month,” she said. “We provide professional training, 24-hour support and modest financial compensation. Single and married people can apply.”
“Open your heart, and we can fill it,” says Melissa Laird, Therapeutic Respite Care Program Coordinator.
For more information, prospective foster and respite providers can call Ginny Snaider at 703-219-2184. For information on Therapeutic Respite, call Melissa Laird at 703-219-2132.
Established in 1924, Northern Virginia Family Service is a private, non-profit community service resource dedicated to helping individuals and families find new paths to self-reliance and brighter futures. Each year, NVFS helps more than 27,000 people find affordable housing and health care for their children, avoid or recover from debt, earn a living wage and much more. For more information, visit www.nvfs.org.

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