Gov. Timothy M. Kaine addressed the first Governor’s Conference on Children’s Services Transformation Thursday.

The conference, sponsored by the Annie E. Casey and Freddie Mac Foundations, brings together approximately 600 stakeholders and advocates to celebrate milestones of the Children’s Services Transformation program and focus on sharing best practices to most effectively help at-risk children and their families throughout the Commonwealth. First Lady Anne Holton is hosting the two-day conference, which opened Wednesday.

“The Virginia Children's Services System Transformation is based on the belief that every child deserves a safe, loving and stable life with their family,” says Kaine. “Unfortunately, that’s not always possible and, in those instances, child service agencies must find other options for safe and stable environments, such as kinship care, as quickly as possible.”

Since the Children’s Services System Transformation began in December of 2007, the number of children in group foster care has been reduced by 42 percent statewide. This decrease means that there are 810 fewer children in group care than when the Transformation began and the Council on Reform (CORE) localities* have reduced their group care population by almost 50 percent.

The Transformation grew out of First Lady Holton’s “For Keeps” initiative, which launched in early 2007. In addition to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, The Transformation also partners with many of Virginia’s child service agencies and other community partners.

“We have a lot of children counting on us, and we’ve made great progress,” says Holton. “There are fewer children in the system. We’ve gone from 8,800 children to 6,600. For the first time, in a long time, we’re able to show positive measurable results.”

Transformation partners have worked to increase effectiveness in helping at-risk children and their families succeed through strengthening safety measures for children and families, family-based placements, and lifelong family connections. The goal has been to place more children with caring families and reduce the number of kids, especially older children, in foster and group home care.

“Every agency that serves children has the opportunity to make a huge difference in the future of kids in foster care,” says Ray Ratke, special adviser on children’s services for the Commonwealth. “We must be guided by the same child-centered and family-focused philosophy and practice model, no matter the geographical boundary. The data tells us that we’re on the right track. We’re eager to continue bringing new strategies, training and other supports to all of our child-serving agencies in the Commonwealth to ensure future successes for our children and families.”

* CORE localities account for almost 50percent of the state’s foster care population and are committed to implement best practices at a state and local level, including: Charlottesville, Chesterfield, Dinwiddie, Fairfax, Henrico, Newport News, Norfolk, Prince William, Richmond City, Roanoke County, Roanoke City, Virginia Beach and Washington County.