Coalition Programs

Recruitment

The Coalition is the area’s largest recruiter of foster/adoptive homes because of partnerships with local media. In addition to featuring waiting children in 12 local newspapers, we partner with KSDK NewsChannel 5 to highlight the need for foster and adoptive families.

For information on recruitment, please contact Jan Joeckel, Co-Director of General Recruitment.

A Place To Call Home

The Coalition partners with St. Louis’ NBC affiliate, KSDK NewsChannel 5, to produce a weekly adoption segment - “A Place to Call Home.” This award winning, program features children who are legally free for adoption. It airs Tuesdays at 6:00 p.m., Thursdays between 5:30 and 6 a.m., and Saturdays during the 9 a.m. newscast. This program has been enormously successful. Out of the more than 180 children who have been featured, 55% of them have, or are in the process of being placed, in an adoptive home. For more information please contact Sheila Suderwalla, Coordinator of “A Place to Call Home.”

Extreme Recruitment®

Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition, in partnership with Good Shepherd Children & Family Services and Catholic Charities, launched an innovative program in St. Louis called Finding Family. The program, which uses multiple databases to track individuals' addresses and phone numbers, is designed to identify extended family members and engage them in case planning with the youth, as well as explore the possibility of establishing meaningful and lasting relationships. For more information, contact Carlos Lopez, Director of Investigations.

Project Teen Plus

The mission of Project Teen Plus is to expedite the successful adoption of youth in the foster care system. We use child-specific recruitment, while empowering the youths to be key decision makers in choosing a “forever family.” Project Teen Plus facilitates monthly teen support groups to help the youths prepare for adoption. We work one-on-one with potential adoptive families, preparing them for the addition of a teenager into their home. Project Teen Plus, Directed by Sheila Suderwalla, has a 70% success rate. For more information please contact Sheila Suderwalla, Coordinator of Project Teen Plus.

Wendy’s Wonderful Kids

The Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption is committed to ending the wait through its signature program, Wendy's Wonderful Kids (WWK). They awarded a grant to the Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition to hire Wendy's Wonderful Kids Recruiters, Liz Johnson and Dawn Milburn, to focus on finding adoptive families for children in foster care. Liz and Connie work aggressively to find adoptive parents for their caseload of 15 youth waiting for a family of their own. Contact Liz or Dawn for more information about the program or to express your interest in a particular child.

Support

Because the foster care system can be difficult to navigate, the Coalition provides support services to help parents succeed and continue as foster or adoptive parents. These services include quarterly skills-building workshops and support groups, the KidStore, a resale shop exclusively for foster parents, an email alert for policy updates and other timely information, free family activities, an informative website and newsletter, the Little Wishes program which provides childhood experiences that foster parents might not be able to afford, and one-on-one family advocacy.

Educational Advocacy

The Coalition's Educational Advocacy program provides one-on-one case based advocacy to foster/adopt families and offer parents appropriate training, so they have the tools needed to advocate for their children academically. Our Educational Resources is a place for parents and professionals to seek advice and resources in educating foster and adoptive children. For more information, contact Leslie Lewis, Director of Educational Advocacy, or Del Johnson, Director of St. Louis City - Educational Advocacy.

Family Advocacy

The foster care system is difficult to navigate, but no one has to do it alone. Denise Kelley is our Director of Family Advocacy, and each year she helps hundreds of foster and adoptive families figure out the best ways to address their particular situations. The Coalition offers a variety of newsletters to help keep you up to date. For more information, contact Denise Kelley, Director of Advocacy and Recruitment.

Family Development

Any parent will tell you that foster care and adoption takes more that love, it takes skill, too! To help our families and kids, we offer quarterly in-service trainings. Foster parents can receive 7.5 in-service hours at our quarterly Training Extravaganzas. For more information please contact Nickie Steinhoff, Director Training and Community Support.

KidStore

Children often enter foster care with only the clothing on their backs. To help, we manage a small resale shop open exclusively to Missouri and Illinois foster and adoptive parents, relative caregivers, caseworkers, and GALs/CASAs. The KidStore provides high-quality clothing and equipment at “garage sale” prices; nothing costs more than $1.00. The KidStore is located on the 2nd floor of Tyler Place Presbyterian Church (2109 South Spring Street, Saint Louis, MO 63110). The store is open the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month and every Saturday (except holidays) from 9 a.m. - noon. For more information please contact Cindy Ysaguirre, KidStore Manager.

Little Wishes

The "Little Wishes" program is sponsored by the Coalition and KSDK-TV NewsChannel 5. The goal of the program is simply to help foster children have a childhood. Little Wishes raises donations from the public to fund opportunities that help kids grow and thrive. For example, a week at summer camp enables a girl to be just one of the kids and not labeled as a foster child. When wishes like these are granted, kids begin to realize what it's really like to be a kid. They get to discover who they are, what they are capable of and what it means to be happy. For more information please contact Rossi Summers, Director of Operations.

Parent Support Groups

Foster care and adoption takes a great deal of love and skill. Thanks to the National Foster Parenting Association, we are able to offer a variety of skill-building support groups. For more information, contact Nickie Steinhoff, Director Training and Community Support.

Parent-to-Parent Network

A temporary relief for caregivers and families who are caring for foster and adoptive children.  The Coalition believes that respite is an essential part of support that helps a family take a break from the daily routine and stress.   Click here to learn about upcoming respite events. For more information, contact Nickie Steinhoff, Director Training and Community Support.

VolunteerServe

No matter your schedule or lifestyle, there are many ways to be a part of Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition. We have opportunities to help out at our KidStore, to mentor a foster child, to help out a foster family, or assist with our fund-raising events. For more information, please contact Shelley Thomas-Benke, Director of FosterServe Volunteers.



Youth Support Groups

In October 2007, the Coalition began a new support group for adopted tweens and teens as well as those preparing to be adopted. Youth will gain a better understanding of adoption and also have an opportunity to discuss their own, unique concerns. For more information, contact Nickie Steinhoff, Director Training and Community Support.