Virginia: Foster parents don't spank--Message from Prevent Child Abuse Virginia
April 19, 2001

From: Steve Jurentkuff [mailto:sjurentkuff@pcav.org]
Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2001 12:45 PM
Subject: Board withdraws proposed regulations

Great news! At the DSS State Board meeting in Roanoke on Wednesday April 18 the Board voted unanimously to withdraw the proposed regulations governing licensed child placing agencies that would have allowed corporal punishment. The Attorney General ruled that the Board had 3 options, 1 to allow the proposed regulations to go into effect, 2 to revise the regulations (reversing the decision on corporal punishment would have moved the regulations back into a public comment period and would have delayed the actual approval or implementation for a period of time) or withdrawal of the proposed regulations. The Board chose to withdraw the regulations to make a final decision about not allowing corporal punishment in foster care.

Several of us at the meeting stayed for the public comment period to thank the Board for their decision. I think it would be important for all of us to write letters to the Board via the Department thanking them for making this decision. If any changes are to be made to the regulations at this point they will have to begin and go through the entire regulatory process.

Congratulations to each and every one of you who helped make this happen. There are too many people to name individually - I mean there are 45 organizations involved! However, at the risk of leaving out many important contributors, I would like to recognize the following people for their extraordinary contributions: Bob Sheppard, Nachama Masliansky, Penny Combs, Robin Foster, Patty Huber, Susan Clark, Richard Ferris, Richard Grossman, Cassandra Calender-Ray, Melissa Mansfield, Sam Sabbagh, Gregg Peters, Margaret Nimmo, Chris Spanos, and last but not least Amanda DiGirolamo!

Please forgive me if your name was not mentioned, there were so many people involved in making significant contributions I could not list them all - please know that your contributions are appreciated and valued! Our reward is the wonderful outcome of continued protection for our foster children.

We will continue to stay in touch and work together to help make this a better world for Virginia's children.

Steve Jurentkuff
Executive Director
Prevent Child Abuse Virginia
(804) 359-6166
visit our website: www.preventchildabuseva.org