12/24/2021
Warmest greetings of this festive season and best wishes for happiness this New Year. Each of you are a gift to the Children's Division and we value your partnership and devotion to our children in Foster Care. Our goal for the New Year is to communicate more to you with transparency and openness. One thing we are working on is streamlining processes so that you have a better experience with quarterly visits. Quarterly visits are conversational allowing for the sharing of concerns as well as accomplishments and development of a mutual relationship of trust. The visits are to be used as a prompt to have meaningful conversations about pertinent issues and assure compliance with licensing requirements. In addition, the visits are an opportunity to identify resources for the resource provider such as support groups, to have discussions about respite care, and the resource parent meeting their own needs. Discussions about training needs shall occur as well.
Virtual Training - Coyote Hills presents Spaulding Foster to Adopt January 8th and 15th. Must attend both days from 9 to 4. The link to register is Spaulding Foster to Adopt | Coyote Hill.
Trust Based Relational Intervention (TBRI) is an attachment-based, trauma-informed intervention that is designed to meet the complex needs of vulnerable children. TBRI uses Empowering Principles to address physical needs, Connecting Principles to address attachment needs, and Correcting Principles to disarm fear-based behaviors. This training will be virtual and will take place over the course of 9 separate sessions that build on each other. To register, please contact Tiffany DaVault prior to the date indicated for the session you would like to attend at 573-842-7668 or Tiffany.R.Davault@dss.mo.gov. This 9 week course will be offered 3 times: Winter TBRI - January 11th - March 8th 6 to 8 pm each Tuesday, Spring TBRI - March 5th - May 7th 9 to 11 am each Saturday, Fall TBRI - September 20th - November 15th 6 to 8 pm each Tuesday.
Virtual Training - MPACT will present Solving the Employment Puzzle on Wednesday, January 5th from 2 to 3:30 p.m. This training centers on employment for youth with disabilities by presenting two distinct strands: self-determination and "do-it-yourself" strategies for parents and concrete information about employment and how to access adult services for teens/youth adults. Link to register is: https://register.gotowebinar.com/register/8375276256805221901
Social media is sometimes used to advocate for and find homes for our Foster Children. We wanted to remind our Resource Parents that whenever you are posting you should only post to private groups and that we cannot share confidential information in posts. It is also important to have an administrator so only appropriate people are in the group. If you ever have any questions about making posts please do not hesitate to reach out to your Licensing Worker.
Deciding on and excepting a placement can be a challenging time. It is important as Resource Parents to talk with your licensing worker about your placement wishes so that the best fit can be found for you. The following are some questions to ask about initial placements when they occur:
- What are the ages and sex of the child or children?
- Why are they coming into care?
- Are there siblings who are also entering care?
- Will they be changing school districts if they are placed with me?
- What is your cell phone number—and what is your supervisor’s?
- What is their understanding of the reason they are in foster care?
- Do they have allergies—including to animals?
- What are their favorite foods—likes and dislikes? Are they vegetarian?
- What are their upcoming and routine appointments? What is their visitation schedule with birth family members—and where do they live?
- Are they a runaway risk?
- When is their birthday? How have they celebrated it—and other holidays—in the past?
- What are their medical needs?
There have been no Memos for Resource Licensing since the last newsletter. We had 1 Practice Alert reminding staff to use our E-Forms site to ensure the latest version of a form is being used, and another practice alert reminding staff that the Intro to Missouri Foster Care is 1 credit hour of training and the Respite Handbook is also 1 credit hour of training. If you have not had a chance to see the new respite manual I encourage you to visit this link and view it: Respite Care Provider Handbook (mo.gov).
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