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 5-20-2025
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May is Foster Care Month
Thank you to the amazing providers of Missouri for providing a safe and loving homes to foster children. Children's Division (CD) could not do this without you!
Many circuits are hosting Foster Parent Appreciation events this month, so make sure to check with your Licensing Worker to see what is happening near you!
You can also check the Missouri Heart Gallery Calendar for recruitment events.
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Interested in becoming a Foster Parent Ambassador?
Fill out this form to apply and start mentoring other foster parents in your area!
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Missouri Kin-4-Kid
Check out the new Missouri Kin-4-Kid website with the link below.
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At Show Me Healthy Kids (SMHK), Care Management services are here to support members with compassion and expertise. Here’s how SMHK helps:
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Personalized Support: Clinical care managers work with members to understand their unique health needs and build customized care plans.
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Goal Setting: Together, members and care managers identify meaningful health goals—and SMHK provides the tools to help achieve them.
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Scheduled Outreach: Care managers check in regularly at agreed-upon times to ensure steady support and progress.
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Advocacy: SMHK advocates for members within the health plan to make sure they get the right doctors, treatments, and services.
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Coordinated Care: SMHK connects the dots between providers to avoid gaps or overlaps in care.
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Access to Resources: From mental health support to transportation, SMHK links members with services they may not know are available.
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Education & Self-Management: SMHK offers guidance on managing conditions and preventing crises.
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Insurance Help: SMHK helps resolve issues with coverage, referrals, and assist with navigating the healthcare system.
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Emotional Support: SMHK is here for the whole person, offering connections to counseling, food, housing, and peer support.
SMHK is here to make health care easier, more connected, and focused on what matters most to our members.
For more information, contact SMHK at 1-877-236-1020, ext. 6075125 (TTY/TDD 711) or email HSH_Anchors@homestatehealth.com.
Medication Information
What should a participant do if a medication they are trying to fill at the pharmacy is denied by MO HealthNet? Participants should not to pay out-of-pocket or assume the medication can be obtained.
Medications may be denied for concerns of serious health risks to the child.
The resource provider, as well as the case manager, can call the MO HealthNet Pharmacy Administration Unit for more information about why the medication was denied and how the situation may be resolved: 573-751-6963, option 3.
For non-urgent questions, email MHD.PharmacyAdmin@dss.mo.gov.
If additional assistance is still needed, the child’s case manager can reach out to the CD MO HealthNet liaisons.
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S3E4: “Embrace what’s coming your way.”
In this episode, Shasta, Jessica, and Ashton talk to DeeDee Button. DeeDee is a former foster parent, adoptive parent, licensed foster parent trainer, a college student seeking a degree in social work, a foster parent ambassador, and the creator and owner of a nonprofit called "The Chaos Closet." DeeDee is doing it all and showing the world that supporting foster parents and foster children can extend far beyond becoming a foster parent. When she was young, her mother was a social worker and regularly shared stories of her work that made an impact on DeeDee. Listen along as she shares her story and passion!
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This is a reminder for resource providers to be completing the CD-265 - Monthly Medical Log every month for the foster youth in their home:
Child Welfare Manual, Section 4, Chapter 4, Subsection 3
“The CD-265 is to be maintained and supplemented by the resource provider throughout the child’s placement and is to be submitted to the case manager monthly, primarily during the case manager’s visit with the child in the child’s placement. The CD-265 also offers an opportunity for the resource provider to provide information about the child’s progress and needs related to the child’s health.”
Child Welfare Manual, Section 6, Chapter 20, Subsection 3
“To share information necessary for the medical, psychiatric, or educational needs of the youth with appropriate practitioners, the Children’s Service Worker, and other members of the child welfare team.”
The Psychotropic Medication Management Training also indicates “The resource provider is to maintain a medical file for the child during placement and update it regularly, documenting all information on the CD-265, which the worker is to review monthly.”
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 Foster the Call Conference
June 6-7, 2025 | Columbia, MO
Foster the Call Conference is a two-day conference focused on trauma-informed strategies to connect with and empower children. This conference is grounded in Trust-Based Relational Intervention® principles, designed for anyone who works with children who have experienced trauma. This includes parents, caregivers, teachers, pastors, social workers, and beyond!
We will have a blend of main stage, in-person teaching and workshops.
Professional development and training hours are available for foster parents, teachers, and professionals!
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Kin Conference 2025
Hosted by Central Missouri Foster Care and Adoption Association
July 7-9, 2025 | The Lodge of Four Seasons, Lake Ozark, MO
Register Now at https://mofosteradopt.com/kin-2025/
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Family Forward’s Development Trauma Center
Several trainings are available to attend!
In-person Trainings, located at 11358 Van Cleve Ave, St. Louis, MO
For questions, email Intake.dept@familyforwardmo.org.
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Taxes
Resource providers may be eligible to claim foster children as dependents and for a tax deduction. Both of these benefits require the state to provide documentation in order for them to be eligible to claim these benefits on their taxes. Resource providers should be provided with the Resource Provider Income Tax Foster Youth Dependent Claim Letter (CD-184) for any child placed in their care for 2024. This form can be completed locally by the child’s case manager or local designee. Beginning with the 2022 tax year, Missouri resource providers also became eligible for a tax deduction of up to $5,000. You can learn more about this tax deduction from the Missouri Department of Revenue.
The 2024 Foster Parent Tax Deduction Notice is mailed by Central Office to all eligible resource providers who had at least one foster child placed in their care during the tax year. Case managers do not have to take any steps regarding the Foster Parent Tax Deduction. Learn more about the Foster Parent Tax Deduction.
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 CD Caregiver Portal
CD has a Caregiver Portal for foster, relative, respite, legal guardianship and adoptive families! At this time, the portal allows caregivers to see their demographics, what placements they have, and their financial information.
If you have any trouble, please email FosterCare@dss.mo.gov and someone will assist you.
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Foster Parent ID Cards
All Foster Parents should have a Foster Parent ID card. This is provided to you after you are licensed. If you do not have an ID card please email FosterCare@dss.mo.gov and CD will provide you the application.
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Family Resource Centers
Family Resource Centers are not-for-profit agencies that work with CD to provide support, services, and resources to meet the unique needs of foster, adoptive, relative, and guardianship children and their families.
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CD Wants to Hear from You!
If there is information you would like covered in future Foster Parent Connections Newsletters, please email Abigail.J.Smith@dss.mo.gov.
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