December 6, 2023 Volume 2, Issue 12
 CD Goes Purple for National Adoption Month
Friday, November 17, was Wear Purple Day in recognition of National Adoption Month. The color purple is in recognition of all of the Missouri children and youth in foster care looking for their forever homes.
We are so grateful to every single team member who works tirelessly to support Missouri's children. You all are simply the best!
On Saturday, November 18, there was a mass adoption docket held in St. Louis. The heartwarming event resulted in 30 kids receiving their adoptive families, and one sibling group of five remaining together. Read more about the event on St. Louis Post Dispatch or KMOV4.
We are making progress on obtaining a vendor for our new Child Welfare Information System (CCWIS) which is our case management system (replacing FACES), and we are currently in the phase of writing up the Request for Proposal (RFP) that will be sent out for public bid to obtain an vendor.
While we are in this phase we would like to also obtain a name for our new system. We thank all of you that participated in the prior survey asking for name suggestions. We had several great ideas and have put together the top 10 names from those suggestions for you to choose from.
Please complete the survey to pick your top choice; you may also provide a suggested name if you have one. We want as much participation as possible to pick the best name as this system will be with us for the long haul!
The survey will be open until 12/15/2023.
Season 2, Episode 10
Listen along as Director Darrell Missey and Ashton Kever have a conversation with Vickie Stoneberger and a couple of our partners at the Missouri Baptist Children's Home, David Burch and George Fulgham. These passionate gentlemen share how they got involved with charitable work and ministry, the ways they work with Children's Division to support the families and children in their area, and dream big for what connections with Children's Division could look like in the future. You can help be a catalyst in your community by recruiting local faith-based and community organizations in your circuit to partner with Children's Division!
We hope you enjoy this episode! Don't forget, you can earn education credits for listening to the podcast through your ESS portal. To ensure you get credit enter the name and date of the podcast in the, "my development screen." Be sure to share with your colleagues and subscribe so you never miss an opportunity to be at the table and hear first hand of the great things happening at Children's Division.
LISTENING TIP: The podcast is available on most popular podcast apps and you can listen and subscribe wherever you like to listen to podcasts at this link.
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How can you claim credit for your “We Are Children’s Division Podcast” listening?
- Log into your Employee Self Service portal (ESS)
- Hover over the “My Information” tab at the top right corner
- Click on “My Development” at the bottom of the list
- Click “Add Training”
- Fill out the fields and click “Submit”
Yes! It is that easy. If you want to know how you’re doing on your professional development hours (specifically supervisors) you can click “View Training Log.”
The Call to Foster Podcast: S1E11
"There are no kids too far gone."
Season 1 Episode 11: We had the privilege of speaking with our very own, Southwest Regional Director for the Children's Division, Pam Alston. Pam is also an adoptive parent. Her story is a perfect example of how children might find you and their permanent home through foster care. While this podcast is usually focused on reunification, as that is the first goal when a child enters care, sometimes a child is seeking more than a temporary loving home, and you could be the one to provide it.
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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Upcoming Recruitment Events
Events for our Fall activities are starting to be scheduled and the below listing will grow! If you have a local event you believe would aid in recruitment or retention please let Christine Steele know. She will be excited to see if there are any supports/supplies she can aid you in obtaining if needed. Also, don’t forget to share your pictures with our communications team – we want to share the good you do in our State.
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January 11
9 am - 3 pm
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Kansas City Hiring Event
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Teasdale Office Building
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January 18
9 am - 3 pm
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Kansas City Hiring Event
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Teasdale Office Building
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*Dates and locations are subject to change
Interested in Obtaining Your MSW?
If you are interested in completing a Masters of Social Work degree we encourage you to review Memo CD23-32. You can contact Christine Steele with any questions you have.
CCU Shining Star: Sharon Wheeler
My area of study is Social Work and I have been with the Children’s Division for nearly 30 years. I feel passionate about our mission, working with our families in the community and enjoy problem-solving the unique challenges that each case brings. I especially enjoy working for my long-time supervisor, Denise Smith who is eternally supportive and an equally amazing human being.
I have enjoyed staffing and discussing my cases with CCU team members, who have been friendly and a pleasure to work with. It is also nice getting to know our CCU team across the state. It has been completely awesome to not have to personally enter all of my notes into the system!
In my spare time, I love hanging out with my Australian Shepherd, who is always within two feet of me at any given time. This cutie was adopted from the Humane Society and he is now 15 years old.
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CCU 2023 Wrap Up
CCU would like to thank everyone for another successful year! We know that wait times have significantly increased since we started, but that means that you all are seeing the true benefits of what CCU can do to assist you and the families that you work with! We see that the demand is there so we are working out different solutions to improve our wait times so that we are able to get to cases staffed and/or closed in a timely manner.
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Additionally, there are some changes coming to CCU so keep an eye out for the memo that further explains all changes. In the meantime, some key takeaways include:
- All documentation requirements prior to calling CCU are being lifted.
- The requirement that the report not be a complex case is being lifted and these reports may be consulted on by CCU. However, it must still be a clear safe case.
- In most cases CCU will enter a consult in FACES prior to referring a case back to the local level. If very little information is obtained prior to making the decision to refer the case back to the local office, no supervisor consult will be entered, but the local supervisor will be notified that the case still needs a consult.
- NMI information will be documented in the Conclusion Approval/Administrative Review Notes text box on the Conclusion screen in FACES. Staff should look for documentation in this box when inquiring why a report remains open.
- In an effort to align documentation between frontline staff and CCU staff, the requirement to complete the assessment conclusion template is being removed. Instead of using a template, staff should include the all relevant information in the conclusion summary.
Safety Plans
Please take a minutes to watch this new video about Safety Plans including reminders about important legal and policy practices.
Lunch and Learn Opportunities
Join Legal Aspects for our Lunch and Learn opportunities on the first Tuesday of every month from 12-1 pm. If you have specific questions you would like to see addressed during the lunch and learn please email Meaghan Forck . Because we only have an hour to begin discussing some very nuanced topics, we encourage circuit managers and supervisors to continue these discussions with those in the field. As we all know, child welfare work rarely fits neatly into any black and white category and as such we hope these lunch and learns will begin many great discussions in your local area.
Please register in the ELC for the class as well, course code: CD000782. If you have trouble registering please feel free to reach out with questions, but you may also attend regardless of registration status. You may also attend without registering using this webex link.
Do you have a Lunch and Learn topic you’d like to see? Please feel free to email them to Meaghan Forck.
Upcoming Training Schedule
The following is the Legal Aspects schedule and other relevant trainings for the rest of the year. To access the trainings, click on the course ID or links listed below.
Beginning in January 2024, Legal Aspects will be changing the configuration of the LA classes. All those interested in enrolling for a LA class covering investigations, family centered services or foster care and adoption cases will need to complete a LA Foundations course. Once the foundations course is completed then you are free to enroll in any LA course you would like. We have added two new courses, LAFCS and LATPR 101. If you have interests in those areas please complete an LA Foundations course and then enroll in the LA course of your choice.
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Date
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Course
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Course ID
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December 6-7
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Legal Aspects for Investigations
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CD000153
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December 20-21
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Legal Aspects for Foster Care and Adoption
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CD000171
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January 30
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Legal Aspects Foundations
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CD000853
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If you have trouble enrolling in a legal aspects course, please contact CD.latrainingteam@dss.mo.gov. For trouble enrolling in other courses please contact, CD.PROFDEVELOPMENT@dss.mo.gov.
We Want to Hear From You!
If you have something you would like to share in the next newsletter issue, please email Ashton Kever at ashton.kever@dss.mo.gov and Baylee Watts at baylee.watts@dss.mo.gov.
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