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October 14, 2022                                                                                                 Vol 2, Issue 16

Announcements

FosterAdopt Connect

FosterAdopt Connect is a Resource Center for families working with children impacted by the foster care system. Our roots run deep within the fostering community, with our beginning starting as a vision from the minds of foster parents. This group of parents had the desire to meet the needs of foster and adoptive parents who needed additional support.  

FosterAdopt Connect goes above and beyond traditional methods of advocating and supporting families and children through a wide array of programs. Those include advocacy, licensing, training, food pantry and clothes closet, kinship navigator, Community Connections Youth Project (CCYP), extreme family finding, fostering prevention, behavioral interventionist, legal advocacy, and 30 Days to Family. FosterAdopt provides these services in several Missouri areas with locations at: Independence (Head Quarters), Poplar Bluff, Hannibal, Macon, Chillicothe, Joplin, Kirksville, Mountain Grove, Cape Girardeau, and Springfield (locations in East Kansas).

Learn more about FosterAdopt Connect with this fact sheet. 

5th Annual Shine-A-Light for Adoption Celebrations

In preparation for National Adoption Month, the Missouri Children’s Division is planning its 5^th Annual Shine-A-Light for Adoption celebrations to be held on November 13, 2022 at 6:30pm.

How can you help? We are committed to helping children find their forever homes through adoption. By hosting a Shine-A-Light for Adoption event, individuals, organizations, and churches in Missouri are helping bring awareness to the massive need for adoptive parents in Missouri. You can help by hosting an event in your area! 

What does an event look like? Events could include music, prayer, adoption stories, fellowship, and information available on how to become an adoptive family. Local foster and adoptive families and adoption professionals can be invited to answer questions and provide information. Individuals and families could participate by turning their porch light on from 6:30pm-7:30pm. However you choose to honor and celebrate adoption at your event is up to you! Just be sure to share pictures of your events and activities using #Shine4MOAdoption on social media. 

If you have questions, contact Vickie.Stoneberger@dss.mo.gov.

Trainings & Events

Annual In-Service Training

The 2022 resource providers' annual in-service training (B170) entitled "Understanding and Managing Trauma Symptoms without Medication" is now available. This must be completed by all resource providers no later than November 1^st. 

When the training is complete, take a screen shot of the quiz completion score, create an email that includes your name, date, and B170 code number then send the e-mail to your resource licensing worker. If you need a paper copy of the training, please reach out to your resource licensing worker.  

Spaulding Adoption Class 

• December 9 & 10 (Friday and Saturday) 9am-4:00pm through Central Missouri Foster Care and Adoption Association. Call 573-298-0258 to register.

CPR/FA Classes offered by CMFCAA
All classes are from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Please call 573-298-0258 to register. 

On-Demand Learning

You can access a ton of great classes that have been offered by Raise the Future at your convenience. The site is geared for adoption but there are many things about trauma and other issues many kids face.

Tips & Reminders

Foster Care Liaisons Did you know that there is an educational liaison assigned for every school district in Missouri for Foster Children? Educational advocacy in the schools is vital, especially for our elevated needs youth. Visit this link and learn who your foster care liaison is and how you can better support your child’s education: Foster Care Liaison.

For the new Foster Care Health insurance, Show Me Healthy Kids, there are a few important items to share:

• The main Show Me Healthy Kids website has helpful FAQs (ie: why the change, what changes, etc).
• Check out the Find a Provider Tool
• The website also features a member login page (if it’s someone’s first time with Home State Health, they’ll need to create a new account)
• Some other important things of note:
  • There is a 180-day continuity of care period for all services (even those out of network) which began on July 1, and is ending on January 1, 2023
  • On 10/1, residential services were carved-in to the Show Me Healthy Kids Plan. With continuity of care continuing until at minimum until January 1, 2023
  • On 10/1, behavioral health services were also carved-in to the Show Me Healthy Kids Plan
  • If a provider is not in-network, Show Me Healthy Kids will need to be informed to ensure their provider network representatives initiate contact with that provider

Get Connected with Other Foster Families Foster Adopt Connect has a list of Facebook based support groups that they maintain and moderate for families across Missouri and Kansas. These are private groups that people have to answer questions and then be admitted to. In these groups most of the activity is families helping each other. Foster Adopt Connect provides interesting information/articles, and step in if discussion needs to be moderated, or to invite individual families to speak with us offline about concerns/advocacy related issues that do not need to be put out for group consumption. The topics of the groups are below: CCYP- group for older youth in care/aged out of care Complex Trauma- group for parents caring for elevated needs kids Damaged Hearts- group for parents who have experienced an adoption disruption or child re-entering foster care Ask an Advocate LGBT Parents and Allies Thriving in Large Families Educational Resources Relative Kinship Support Singles Support Rookies Medical Parenting Love Crosses Lines- transracial parenting group And finally the FAC Loop, which is open to workers and families and is often used for placement matching. Many of these are listed as "Connect Class- [Group Name]" in Facebook. If you are searching and cannot find it easily, you should reach out to the advocacy team and they will get you connected. The contact information is Jennifer.Adams@fosteradopt.org.

A Reminder about Auto-generated checks from Children's Division

Just a reminder that checks are issued on different days in the month. The auto generated checks from CD (such as maintenance payments) usually come out the 14^th-16^th each month but they can come out a few days before or after that range. Checks may be issued on other dates for things like clothing reimbursement, mileage, or if a child changes placement mid-month as sometimes a check is generated early.

If you ever have a question about your check, contact your case manager or licensing worker. Usually we can explain what happened but sometimes there is an error that needs to be addressed.

Foster Family Mentors

Are you in need of help or assistance as a Foster Parent? We have Foster Care Ambassadors who are seasoned Foster parents willing to be a mentor to another Foster family. If you are interested, please email FosterCare@dss.mo.gov and we will pair you up with a Foster Care Ambassador. This is for all foster parents whether you are brand new or have been fostering for a long time. It is for all of our families whether traditional, relative, emergency, respite, or elevated needs.

What is ACI?

Access Crisis Intervention (ACI) provides access to services for individuals experiencing a behavioral health crisis.  ACI will provide an opportunity for individuals to receive necessary behavioral health crisis services in an effort to reduce unnecessary interventions such as hospitalization or detentions. By calling the ACI hotline, individuals have access to behavioral health crisis services that are free and available to both youth and adults.  

• All calls are strictly confidential.  
• ACI hotlines are staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week by behavioral health professionals who are available to provide assistance.
• Assistance may include phone contact, referrals to resources in the community, next day behavioral health appointments, or a mobile response. Mobile is defined as either going to the location of the crisis, or to another secure community location.

To learn more about ACI and to find your local number please visit this link and click on ACI Hotline Numbers by County Map: Access Crisis Intervention | dmh.mo.gov.

We want to hear from you! If there is information you would like covered in the next Foster Parent Connections Newsletters email, Melissa.J.Selsor@dss.mo.gov.

Our Mission: Empower Missourians to live safe, healthy, and productive lives.

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