 May 16, 2023 Vol 3, Issue 5
Happy National Foster Parent Month
Dear Foster Parents,
Thank you to all of our wonderful foster families! May is National Foster Care month and I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for caring for our children and partnering with us to provide them with a stable home. We know that being a Foster Parent comes with many responsibilities and challenges. We appreciate all that you do and your commitment to the children in foster care. You have taken on the role of a counselor, a tutor, a parent, and a role model to them. We could not care for these children without your help and support.
Darrell Missey
Director of Children's Division
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Kinship Navigator Program
Are you a relative Caregiver? Do you know about the Kinship Navigator Program?
ParentLink’s Kinship Navigator program covers the entire state of Missouri and provides ongoing, problem-solving support, quality information, and connection to services to kinship caregivers. Kinship care is an arrangement that allows grandparents, relatives, and non-relative loved ones to provide safe and caring homes for children when the parents cannot. Kinship arrangements can be an informal agreement between the parents and the caregivers or a formal placement that involves the child welfare system.
Whether your kinship care arrangement is informal or formal, long or short term, ParentLink can help you access the services, resources and support you need for yourself and the children in your care. You are not alone!
Kinship Caregivers/Grandfamilies
1-833-KIN-4-KID
For more information visit this link: Kin-4-Kid Line – ParentLink, University of Missouri College of Education
The Call to Foster Podcast: S1E5
"My husband and I were in and out of the system as kids."
Season 1 Episode 5: In celebration of National Foster Care Month, The Call to Foster invited special guests, Darrell Missey, Director of the Missouri Children's Division, and Lauren Masterson, Permanency and Foster Care Licensing Manager, to join Shasta in interviewing Missouri foster parent, Rebecca Kadlez. Rebecca has an incredible story that begins with her own experience as a foster child and her ability to use that experience to help current foster children as a resource parent. In this episode, learn all about Rebecca and her time as a foster parent and foster parent ambassador.
Please subscribe to and share this podcast with anyone you know who might be considering fostering! You can listen to the podcast on most popular podcast platforms.
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Trainings & Events
 Learn how to support the health and well-being of kids in your care
At UnitedHealthcare® Community Plan, we understand that training and support can make a real difference for foster, adoptive and kinship families. That’s why we’re working with the National Foster Parent Association to offer one-hour virtual training sessions in May. You’re invited to attend at no cost.
Get information and tips to help keep your family strong. Topics include:
- How trauma affects development
- The concept of the “jigsaw puzzle child”
- How and why caregivers can become grief managers
- Words matter — and what that means
- The importance of self-care for caregivers
Each session will cover the same information. Join the one that fits your schedule —
no registration is needed. The number of participants on each call is limited, though.
So if you try to join and a session is full, please check out another session.
Meeting ID: 388 566 9592
Friday, May 5: 11 a.m. CT/12 p.m. ET
Thursday, May 18: 6 p.m. CT/7 p.m. ET
Wednesday, May 24: 11 a.m. CT/12 p.m. ET
 Laura on Youtube is a great source of information and resources to assist Foster Parents.
Hope for the Journey
June 8-9, 2023 | 9 am - 3:30pm | $25 for one day; $40 for both days
Forum Christian Church, 3900 Forum Blvd, Columbia, MO
Check-in begins at 8:15 AM. Lunch will be provided. Light breakfast and snacks provided as well.
Coyote Hill is hosting Hope for the Journey, which is a conference based on Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI). It is a mixture of a simulcast and breakout sessions hosted by professionals. Formerly Empowered to Connect, Hope for the Journey is a two-day simulcast event aiming to shepherd you to a deeper understanding of children’s needs.
If you are a parent, caregiver, teacher, pastor, social worker, or anyone who works with children who have experienced trauma, this conference will provide valuable encouragement and information for you.
Hope for the Journey has been accepted by DESE Office of Childhood with conference number C-2023-0010. Training sessions for this conference may now be entered. For questions about the approval process, contact CCTraining@dese.mo.gov. Detailed instructions can be found at http://health.mo.gov/safety/childcare/trainerinfo.php. Send questions about the Missouri Workshop Calendar to contactus@moworkshopcalendar.org.
The Importance of Sibling Placement
June 10, 2023 | 9 am- 4 pm | Virtual
This training will discuss the importance of sibling bonds, and relationships. We will discuss ways to protect, and nurture sibling relationships within your home, biological families, or across multiple homes when siblings were not able to be placed together. This is a required course the second year of foster care licensure. This course is worth 7 hours.
The following links will take you to a multitude of training opportunities that are available for in-service hours:
Foster Parent College - Online Training for Foster, Adoptive, and Kinship Parents and Caregivers
All Courses - FosterAdopt Connect Training (thinkific.com)
Training | Child Welfare Information Gateway
Monthly Medical and Travel Logs
This is a reminder to complete/turn in your Monthly Medical Log and Travel Log to the case manager(s) when you see them every month. You need to complete a Medical Log (CD-265) for every child every month even if they had no medical appointments and/or do not take medication. This form is required to document consent decisions for routine medical care and provide a medical history for the youth each month. If they are in your home only part of the time, please fill one out for the time the child was there. Your cooperation with this is greatly appreciated. The medical and travel log are now available on the "I am a Foster Parent" web page.
 Foster Care Ambassador Program
Foster Care Ambassadors have valuable insight and/or experience into foster care and are passionate and willing to help recruit, support, and advocate for the cause. They have thorough knowledge of Children’s Division policies as well as the state statutes and are able to answer questions from potential foster parents or interested individuals in the community. Foster Care Ambassadors are available to speak at or host their own recruitment events. Foster Care Ambassadors also serve as mentors to new or struggling foster parents.
Foster Care Ambassadors meet virtually monthly to network, share ideas and receive updates from the Children’s Division. They are asked for input into new and upcoming initiatives and attend conferences sharing about the Ambassador program. Ambassadors also work on projects such as designing and creating Welcome Packets for new Foster Parents. If you are interested in becoming a Foster Care Ambassador, please email FosterCare@dss.mo.gov.
Visit the "I am a Foster Parent" Webpage
This is a web page just for Foster Parents to use to find forms, trainings, and general tools about being a Foster Parent. The Resource Parent Handbook is located on that page as well and can answer many questions. Visit the link above and take a look around. If you know of anyone who would like to sign up for this newsletter ask them to visit the page as well. There will be a pop up asking for their email address if they want to stay informed.
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.
Foster Parent Web Page
Have you ever visited the "I am a Foster Parent" web page? This is a web page just for Foster Parents to use to find forms, trainings, and general tools about being a Foster Parent. The Resource Parent Handbook is located on that page as well and can answer many questions. Visit the link above and take a look around. If you know of anyone who would like to sign up for this newsletter ask them to visit the page as well. There will be a pop up asking for their email address if they want to stay informed.
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.
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