Pursuant to paragraph G of Virginia Code § 2.2-447, the Children’s Ombudsman “shall submit to the Governor, the director of the Department, and the General Assembly an annual report on the Ombudsman’s activities, including any recommendations regarding the need for legislation or for a change in rules or policies." This Annual Report covers our work during State Fiscal Year 2025 (FY2025), which began on July 1, 2024, and ended on June 30, 2025.

Complaints and Investigations. In FY2025, the Office of the Children’s Ombudsman (OCO) received 466 complaints. Of Virginia’s 120 local departments of social services, 88 were the subject of the complaints we received during FY2025. The most common complaints were allegations that agency staff were biased against the complainant, inappropriate or inadequate support or services were offered to the complainant, improper child protective services (CPS) Investigation procedures, improper child removals, and lack of agency staff responsiveness.

The OCO initiated 32 formal investigations of complaints received in FY2025 or earlier. Common practice issues identified in our case reviews and investigations were related to:

1. Local department of social services participation in local child protection Multidisciplinary Teams.
2. Follow-up with mandated reporters.
3. Case transfers between local departments.
4. Permanency placement decisions.
5. Engagement with fathers.

Child Fatalities. Pursuant to subsection B of Virginia Code § 2.2-443, the OCO may investigate child fatality cases that occurred or are alleged to have occurred due to child abuse or child neglect and the family has had prior involvement with child protective services or foster care.

In FY2025, the OCO received 49 notifications of such child fatalities. Twenty-five of the 49 children (51%) were aged 6 months or younger. In 14 cases (29%), unsafe sleep practices or conditions were reported at the time of the child’s death. In 9 cases (18%), the family had a history of domestic violence. In 13 cases (27%), the parents were reported to have had untreated or undertreated mental health conditions. In 12 cases (25%), the decedent child was reported as being born substance exposed.

In 25 cases (51%), the children’s parents or caregivers were reported to have had a history of substance use. In 22 of these 25 cases (88%), the decedent children were 3 years of age or younger. Unsafe sleep conditions were reported in 9 of these 25 cases (36%). The substances most frequently reported to be used by parents in these cases were cannabis, cocaine, and alcohol.

Recommendations for System Changes.

1. Workforce Support.
Many local departments of social services continue to have difficulty attracting, hiring, and retaining qualified family service specialists. In addition, many local departments lost experienced long-term family services specialists and supervisors during the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in a significant loss of experienced senior workers. The combination of these two workforce challenges leads directly to the majority of practice issues we see in our case reviews and investigations. We recommend that state and local leaders and policy makers take actions to (1) provide competitive compensation for local department staff; (2) establish equal pay scales across the state to prevent local staff from leaving one agency to work for another that can provide higher pay; (3) reinstitute inperson training for local department staff; (4) fund the Virginia Department of Social Services Office of Trauma and Resilience’s Workforce Support Program; (5) create a state pool of emergency family services specialists; and (6) consider the consolidation of localities with smaller and less-resourced local departments under one combined local board and department of social services.

2. Child Protection.
We noted deficiencies in practices involving CPS and local departments’ responses to reports of alleged child abuse and neglect, particularly with the very young children (age 3 years and younger) and medically fragile children that are extraordinarily vulnerable and lack protective capacity. We recommend that state leaders and policy makers consider (1) establishing centralized intake and validation of CPS reports; (2) amending law and regulation to require expedited responses to CPS reports involving children under age 3 years; and (3) developing targeted efforts to address parental substance misuse, including supporting a robust state plan for the implementation of Plans of Safe Care and providing multidisciplinary training focused on parental substance use and its effects on children.

3. State Oversight over Local Administration of Family Services.
Virginia has a delivery system of social services that is state supervised and locally administered. The Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Social Services has limited authority to enforce compliance with social services laws, regulations, and policies when the programs are not being administered properly. The following actions should be considered by state leaders to bolster the supervisory and oversight authority of the Commissioner over the delivery of social services programs: (1) authorize state intervention in the local administration of child protective services; and (2) clarify state laws governing the appointment, performance, and removal of directors of local departments of social services.

4. Quality Legal Representation in Child Dependency Cases.
To help improve the quality of legal representation and advocacy for parents and children involved in child dependency court proceedings, state leaders and policy makers should increase the rate of compensation paid to attorneys serving as court-appointed guardians ad litem for children; and provide funding to establish local or regional pilot programs offering a multidisciplinary model of legal representation and advocacy for parents.

5. Establishment of a Permanent Children’s Cabinet.
Issues affecting children have gotten much more complex in recent years. An effective statewide response requires coordinated efforts by multiple executive branch agencies across administration secretariats to ensure that laws, regulations, and policies reflect the shared goal of keeping Virginia’s children and youth on track developmentally, educationally, socially, and emotionally. Getting buyin from the highest level of leadership at child-serving agencies is needed to make meaningful and lasting progress in filling gaps and solving complex problems within the systems that serve children and families. We recommend that state leaders and policy makers consider establishing a permanent Children’s Cabinet by executive order or legislative action.