A local couple has been recognized as the 2025 Foster Parents of the Year for Arlington.
Drew and Melanie Bond have fostered more than a dozen children, and adopted two, in addition to raising their four birth children.
The couple’s “capacity to love and care continues to expand,” noted the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, in bestowing the honor.
More from MWCOG:
Drew and Melanie Bond have been Arlington County foster parents for almost 18 years. During their years of service, they have had 14 children join their family, and the whole Bond family, to include their 4 birth children, play a role in supporting the children in their care. Drew and Melanie also have always shown up for the foster parent community. Over the years, they have partnered with other families as respite providers, spent years co-training for PRIDE, mentored new foster families, and participated in retention events. For three years after accepting those two children into their family, the Bonds managed all the medical appointments, behavior strategy sessions, sibling visits and rapport building with birth relatives. Then when return home became impossible, the Bonds said “yes to forever” through adoption. When the adoptions were finalized in April of 2022, the Bonds became a family of 8. After taking some well-deserved time to settle in as a newly expanded family, the Bonds reached out about continuing to foster. Since that time, two more little ones have joined the family. It is truly amazing how the Bond’s capacity to love and care continues to expand.
