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About Us

Supporting Foster Families

Who We Are

The Friends of Foster Care is a nonprofit dedicated to making life better for children in foster care. Founded in 2016 by foster parents Richard Litton and Audra Bullock, we serve over 1,700 foster and at-risk youth each year across Hampton Roads and Richmond. Funded entirely by private donations and grants, we work alongside local social services, businesses, and nonprofits to connect kids with the support they need to thrive.

Our Goals

  1. To build a population of licensed foster care parents that exceeds that number of children entering care.
  2. To ensure that foster youth have one placement between entering and exiting foster care and that they leave foster care through successful family reunification or adoption and not through aging out.
  3. To afford foster youth the support necessary to perform on par with their non-foster-care peers and transition to successful adulthood.

Our Story

Audra Bullock and Richard Litton became foster parents in 2015 and quickly saw the lack of community resources for foster youth in Hampton Roads. They partnered with the Norfolk Department of Human Services and Old Dominion University to launch a foster parent recruitment initiative, which led to the founding of Norfolk Friends of Foster Care in 2016. What began with recruitment efforts soon grew into a series of targeted programs that focused on education, enrichment, and social support. The organization provided professional tutoring, funded extracurricular activities like music and sports, and offered access to summer camps and other developmental experiences.
In just one year, Norfolk Friends of Foster Care built strong community partnerships and began making a real impact. By 2018, the need for services had grown, and new partnerships with Chesapeake, Portsmouth, and Virginia Beach helped expand the program. The organization became Tidewater Friends of Foster Care, reflecting its wider reach and continued mission to improve the lives of foster youth across the region.
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