Resources for Prospective Foster Parents

Some foster youth may have significant developmental delays and medical conditions that require specialized care to meet the child’s needs. This is where medical foster care parents come in. We will help provide specific training and connections to community resources to assist with addressing the safety and health of the child in their care.

A safe place to sleep is a child’s first step to health and healing. Through no fault of their own, children who have been removed from their home experience trauma, including extreme emotional shock, significant loss and fear of the unknown. Without a trusted and structured home that promotes healing, children may have long-lasting psychological effects.

That’s where you come in. You can become a foster parent to support the elevated needs of children and youth in our community. Due to significant trauma, children with elevated needs require more patience, understanding and positive reinforcement from their caretakers. Foster families of elevated needs foster youth will have developed additional skills to meet the higher needs of the youth. But you’re not alone. We’ll be right by your side the entire time.

Children and youth in our community who have been removed from their home are seeking compassionate treatment foster care parents. Treatment foster care is the highest level of care. It requires both strength and patience for children and youth who have experienced extreme trauma. Our trauma-informed team will provide you with an enhanced and individualized level of support to help children heal and prepare for the future:

• 24/7 access support.
• Specialized foster parent support groups.
• Regular phone calls to check on the child’s behavior and your emotional well-being. It is our priority to support you in becoming a successful treatment foster parent.

We know children and teens have the best opportunity to thrive when they are living with their families. If that isn’t possible, every child deserves a safe and loving temporary home surrounded by a supportive community. Our expanded treatment foster care services makes all that possible!

• Traditional Treatment Foster Care—Services for youth needing the highest level of care due to extreme trauma in a specialized licensed foster home. Our trauma-informed team provides enhanced services and supports to help the youth successfully remain in the community while learning new coping skills processing their trauma.
• Relative Treatment Foster Care—Services in the home for youth and their relative caregiver to teach new skills so the youth may remain in a family setting. Individualized training and increased supports to the relative caregiver and youth assist in maintaining the placement.
• Transition Services (Aftercare)—Services provided to support a youth’s successful transition to permanency, a less intensive family home, or a community setting. This 90-day program, which may be extended on a month-by-month basis with approval if needed, helps caregivers understand and effectively manage the youth’s challenges so any gains made are not lost.

All Families Receive

In Missouri, 13,000 children are in need of loving, temporary homes. Right now, we’re in critical need of individuals, couples, and families who:

• Are willing to learn proven techniques that help youth heal.
• Are ready to be recognized as part of the professional foster care team.
• Are eager to make a true difference in children lives.

In any of our services, families will receive the same high-level, trauma-informed care and support they have come to expect from us:

• 24/7 support from our team should any questions or crises arise.
• Access to specialized foster parent trainings and support groups.
• Regular communication with in-person and virtual home visits to check on the child’s behavior and the family’s emotional well-being.
• Monthly respite care.
• Connections to community resources and supports.

This is the first type of placement we search for when a child is removed from their home. Relative, or kinship, foster parents are contacted directly by us when a child they know needs a foster placement. As a relative foster parent, you are related to the youth needing care, such as a cousin or nephew. As a kinship foster parent, you know this child directly from your community, such as you may have been the child’s coach or teacher.

Respite, or temporary care, is essential to the foster care program. It is care provided to a foster or adopted child for a short period of time — for as little as 24 hours up to a few days — by someone other than the primary caregivers (i.e., foster, adoptive or kinship parents). Respite care gives the primary caregivers and the children a chance to have short, regular periods of time apart, which is imperative to help prevent caregiver fatigue and burnout. 

Most definitely! We have some wonderful foster/adoptive parents who are single. But if, at some point, you choose to begin a romantic relationship, you must inform our staff. For the safety of the children, a criminal check and an abuse and neglect background check is required on everyone in close contact with your foster children.

Again, it is imperative that you be upfront with our staff about your relationships, otherwise the children may be removed from your home. If you become engaged to be married after you receive your license, your fiancé must go through the training as well and be approved as a foster/adoptive parent.

That’s a resounding YES! Times and attitudes have changed, and for the better. We’re looking for safe, stable, nurturing homes for children who have been traumatized. If you can provide that, we want you to join us.

Many children enter state custody on a daily basis and we need to place them in homes fast. We start looking for placements immediately.

• We search our database for available matches.
• If you are a good fit, we call you and tell you about the child.
• After careful consideration, you decide whether to accept the child into your home. (Most times a decision is needed within 15 minutes.)
• If you say ‘yes’, the caseworker calls you to set up a meeting location.
• Once the child is in your home, you must call your family development specialist to inform him or her of the new placement.
• If you say ‘no’, the staff simply calls the next person on the list.

As a rule, you can have no more than six children in your home, consisting of any combination of biological and foster/adoptive children. For example, if a family has 3 biological children, they can only be licensed for 2 children.