By Dr. Karen Alyasiry, Family Development Specialist, Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition Child Welfare is a multi-faceted system of agencies working to improve the efficiency of permanency for youth that enter alternative care. The Missouri Department of Social Services has reported 14,221 children in the foster care system as of November 2021 (dss.mo.gov, n.d.). The [...] Continue Reading
Link to flyer. The Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition held a series of “town hall” meetings with hundreds of local child welfare community members after learning that the State of Missouri is making a $5 million investment to expand foster care and adoption services. These conversations helped the Coalition form a bold vision for changing [...] Continue Reading
Tre’vione is 14 years old and always has a smile on his face. He is very friendly, caring, and delights everyone who meets him. Tre’vione enjoys sports, especially basketball and football with friends in the neighborhood. In his free time he enjoys riding his bike, playing video games, reading, and the outdoors. Tre’vione’s best idea [...] Continue Reading
Meet William, a 6 year old charmer. William is an active kiddo who will quickly liven up your life. He loves to try new things and has participated in basketball, soccer, and bowling. Right now he says soccer is his favorite! His perfect summer includes camping, watching NASCAR and Wrestling, riding his bike and dune [...] Continue Reading
September is National Kinship Care Month. During this month our nation highlights what our Coalition Families United program celebrates every day: the commitment and love our relatives and kinship families provide to children in foster care. To celebrate we thought we could share a few of our amazing family stories. Stay tuned, as we will [...] Continue Reading
Carter is an energetic and curious ten-year old boy who is currently in the fourth grade! Carter is described as a cute, sweet, and caring! Carter enjoys sports, including basketball, track, and soccer. Carter loves to read (especially the Goosebumps books) and to write. Carter receives some additional services through his school to assist him [...] Continue Reading
Bryant is a 14 year old young man. He is active and has a playful attitude when he warms up to you. He especially likes to tell jokes and play jokes on his close friends. Laid back and curious are great words to describe his dynamic personality. He makes friends easily and enjoys his time [...] Continue Reading
Click here to download this press release as a PDF. ST. LOUIS, MO - July 29, 2021 - The State of Missouri made a historic investment on behalf of children in foster care when Governor Mike Parson signed the social services portion of the FY 2022 budget on July 1, 2021. $90 million in new [...] Continue Reading
Have you ever wondered what happens to a child after entering foster care? Because every child has a right to privacy, foster care is invisible by design. But that also means the system is often unaccountable and, to most people, completely unknown. When the state removes a child from their home due to alleged abuse [...] Continue Reading
Right now, there are around 4,500 kids in St. Louis foster care and 400,000 kids in foster care in the United States. Quality foster homes are always needed to care for our community’s most vulnerable children. While there are incredible individuals ready to help, many more folks would like to become licensed foster parents. Still, [...] Continue Reading
Watch Michaela's feature on "A Place to Call Home." Meet Michaela! This 12 year old may be shy at first, but once comfortable she can be a social butterfly. Like most pre-teens, she likes to spend time with her friends. Michaela is creative and enjoys arts and crafts, drawing, coloring, and reading. She also appreciates [...] Continue Reading
There Has Never Been a Better Time To Support Our Kids www.givestlday.org/fosteradopt Give STL Day is Thursday, May 6th (add to your calendar), and the Coalition has set a goal of $180,000. That’s an ambitious goal, but there has never been a better time to support our kids. Why? We learned from the pandemic that [...] Continue Reading
On April 7th, 2021 the Coalition was thrilled to thank some of our extraordinary volunteers for their wonderful contributions to our mission. Because of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, we had to get creative. We were elated that volunteers could attend our socially-distanced Appreciation Luncheon. We wanted to give volunteers a safe and superior experience! Lunch [...] Continue Reading
Join us for Give STL Day 2021 on May 6. Your investment on Give STL Day last year allowed us to change 2020 from a threat to an opportunity. Rather than widespread instability and further trauma, our families experienced unparalleled support. Your support over the years made that possible. The Coalition had the luxury of [...] Continue Reading
To commemorate social work appreciation month, we turned the spotlight to the real engine of change at the Coalition: our program staff. We interviewed 14 of them so they could share their journey in the child welfare field – what inspired them to do this work, some of their favorite aspects, words of wisdom for [...] Continue Reading
Watch Gary's feature on "A Place to Call Home." Gary is a kind and helpful 13-year-old looking for his forever family. Gary loves all animals, but horses are his favorite. Gary enjoys horseback riding and spending time outside. He also enjoys shopping at his favorite store, Dollar Tree. He has a good sense of humor [...] Continue Reading
This year we celebrate 10 years of our 30 Days to Family® program in the St. Louis area with a BIG milestone: we will soon reach 1,000 kids served! 30 Days to Family® helps place kids with relatives, significantly reducing their time in foster care and creating stable placements by weaving together a robust support [...] Continue Reading
During the holidays, we are inundated with messages from a number of sources (movies, music, TV, social media, commercials) about how we should be feeling joyful, happy, and thankful. Surrounded by loving (and attractive) family, laughter, fancy food served at perfectly set tables and loads of expensive gifts, these images rarely reflect the truth for [...] Continue Reading
Watch Za'Leyah's feature on "A Place to Call Home." Za’Leyah, who also spells her name Zaleyah, is a friendly and energetic 11-year-old girl. Za’Leyah is talkative and loves being around family and friends, as well as meeting new people. She loves to play games and watch videos on YouTube. A few of Za’Leyah’s favorite things [...] Continue Reading
Gianna’s father, Joseph, was struggling with drug addiction when Gianna came into foster care at 11 years old. Her mother had passed away and Joseph was Gianna’s sole caregiver. As Gianna’s case progressed, her father was unable to overcome his struggle with substance use and a judge made Gianna available for adoption. Gianna suffered immense [...] Continue Reading
Watch Romeo and Romel's feature on "A Place to Call Home." These adorable brothers have an extremely strong bond and hope for a forever family that will commit to the both of them. Romeo and Romel each have their own unique personalities, but those personalities mesh well. Church has been a big part of their [...] Continue Reading
Mariah* spent 2 of her last 3 years in foster care bouncing in and out of residential facilities. When she transitioned to the residential facility, she had an IEP in place. The residential facility refused to hold the annual IEP meeting when the case manager requested it, so her IEP was over a year old [...] Continue Reading
Watch Jumyrian's feature on "A Place to Call Home." At first meeting, you might mistake Jumyrian for shy and reserved, but give him a chance to get comfortable and he’ll surprise you with a larger than life personality! Witty and charming, this 16-year-old is ready to share his humor with a family. In his down [...] Continue Reading
Xavier had been separated from so many people- first from his parents at age nine and then from his two brothers as they were moved from placement to placement. He had already lived in six different foster homes and attended three different schools. But even as a sixteen-year-old who desperately wanted permanency and family, he [...] Continue Reading
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have responded to over 1,000 CareLine calls, distributed 2,500 clothing items, finalized 10 adoptions, continued to place kids with relatives, advocated for foster children in schools, and trained dozens of foster parents. You won’t be surprised to learn that, over the past five months, we’ve seen our [...] Continue Reading
During the pandemic our Extreme Recruitment® program has finalized 10 adoptions/guardianships! One of the biggest challenges faced by foster care professionals has been delayed adoption timeframes due to cancelled and postponed court hearings and generally slower communication. Adoption/guardianship day is the most important date for many of our children who have lingered in foster care [...] Continue Reading
Acknowledging the systemic racism that hurts our kids and families is just the first step; injustice also demands action. Last week Coalition staff took 4-hours, an intentional block of time, to steward Diversity and Inclusion either personally or collectively with an activity of their choice. In a time of pain, anger, confusion, grief, and thirst [...] Continue Reading
Download Missouri P-EBT Flyer Download Illinois P-EBT Flyer Get $250-302 for Each School-Age Child to Spend on Food Deadline for P-EBT: July 7 (Missouri) | July 15 (Illinois) The State of Missouri and Illinois have created P-EBT to support the unforeseen burden of buying more food when normally children may have been fed at schools. [...] Continue Reading
This week, our staff asked, “The Coalition turned on a dime for COVID-19, why haven’t we done the same for racism?” George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery were murdered, and yet the Coalition was silent on the many ways systemic racism manifests in the lives of our staff and families. We did the same [...] Continue Reading
In light of the most recent outcry for justice for the African American community, the Coalition recently shared with our foster and adoptive community this reflection on how to talk to your children about racism in these tragic times. Horrific events like the death of Mr. George Floyd force us to confront the ever-present racial [...] Continue Reading
The sole reason we are able to be innovative is because of the investments of forward-thinking, dedicated individuals that care about the welfare of our children. Today, we give tribute to John Kuntemeier, who passed away in February. John was a dedicated Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) Volunteer who throughout his life was an advocate [...] Continue Reading
Seriously, please, please, please tell me I am not alone. That I have not gone completely off the deep end. That at least someone else is as confused, frustrated, morally-torn, and exhausted as I, trying to figure out where we are at with all of this? Triple this if you are parenting, Quadruple it if [...] Continue Reading
"That Discomfort You're Feeling is Grief" by Scott Berinato and published by the Harvard Business Review Link to article. As an introduction to next Thursday’s video, “Why Do I Want to Stop, Drop and Roll (into a Ball and Back Under the Covers?”), this article, suggested by a fellow foster parent, really lays the ground [...] Continue Reading
“Every kid needs a family. This, we know. We know it when we look at our own children and think about our dreams for them. We know it in our hearts, in our bones and from our own stories. Whether “family” means a mother and father, a single parent, a beloved aunt or uncle, a [...] Continue Reading
We know that the coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to be top of mind for many of you – just as it is for all of us here at Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition. As a Coalition, we rely on all of you to carry out our mission. As such, we want to share our plan to [...] Continue Reading
Late one winter night in 2008, 7-year-old Tarah* and 8-year-old Anthony came into foster care because their mom was addicted to heroin and struggled with mental illness. They were immediately split up and placed with strangers. Their caseworker was brand new. She tried to contact relatives but found fewer than 10. With no known father, [...] Continue Reading
“All you need is love” and “skin color doesn’t make a difference.” We hear these comments all the time in conversations about transracial parenting. While people say these with the best intentions, they can become a barrier to engaging in deeper thinking, self-evaluation, and conversations around the complexities of transracial families. These conversations can have [...] Continue Reading
Watch Davonte's feature on "A Place to Call Home." Davonte is a fun, curious 14 year old who loves all things Basketball. He loves and is good with animals, especially dogs. Davonte likes to build things, and he is an easy child to have fun with. Davonte is always observing his surroundings, and although he [...] Continue Reading
December 04, 2019 - St. Louis, Missouri - Ian Forber-Pratt, a Distinguished Alumnus from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis and a graduate from Principia College, and his team have received a grant from a private donor to formally launch the Institute for Child Welfare Innovation. The Institute is a spin-off 501c3 [...] Continue Reading
We were thrilled at the outpouring of interest in our last blog post: Why Traditional Parenting Fails Children with Trauma. In that post, our Director of Family Works, Anne Zink, discussed Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP), the only evidence-informed therapy for children with complex trauma between the ages of 2-21. As Anne discussed in the last [...] Continue Reading
Watch Sean's feature on "A Place to Call Home." It’s not necessarily the sun shining through the windows that will brighten your mornings when Sean is in the house. It’s likely his smile, as he spends most of the day beaming! If you couple Sean’s silly sense of humor with his great grins, you’ve got [...] Continue Reading
Much of traditional day-to-day parenting assumes that the child feels safe at home and is able to trust their parent and their motives when they discipline them. They may not like the discipline but they never doubt the underlying security and unconditional love. This traditional parenting, based on social learning theory, assumes that children learn [...] Continue Reading
Issue Spotlight: Transition-Age Youth (TAY) in Foster Care Do you remember being 21 years old? Maybe you have memories of signing your first lease, going off to college, searching for jobs or trying to find yourself. Oh, a time of change and endless possibilities… and stress, confusion and the overwhelming feeling of “having no idea [...] Continue Reading
Time flies when you’re having fun! Camps, vacations, and pool days are winding down, and reality is slowly sinking in; it’s already time to prepare for the school year. We know this is often a tough season for foster, adoptive, and guardianship families. That’s why we do everything we can to make this transition seamless. […]
It had been a tough day for 16-year-old Marcie*. She had just learned that her brother was being adopted. She was glad for him, but couldn’t help but wonder when she would find her forever family, too. She missed him already. Edna, The Coalition’s Wendy’s Wonderful Kids Recruiter, recognized that she needed a little extra [...] Continue Reading
Six year old Chance lights up every room that he walks into. He has a megawatt smile and sweet nature. He has brownish red hair and sparkling green eyes. He is cheerful, loves to help, and you will be his best friend the minute you meet him. He loves to do chores such as taking [...] Continue Reading
Find out how Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition, winner of Council on Accreditation’s 2018 Innovative Practices Award, is leading the charge to create stability for kids in the chaotic world of foster care.
Final projects turned in, desks cleaned out, and the classroom doors are closed … summer has arrived! For many families, there is much to anticipate: sleeping in, vacations, and camps. But for foster parents, it is often a season of uncertainty as the kids in their care adjust to a new daily routine, away from […]
It was a sea of smiles at Wells Fargo Advisors last month, as the Coalition welcomed longtime supporters to our 30 Years of Volunteers Luncheon. It felt more like a family reunion, bringing together extraordinary individuals and groups who have been committed to serving our most vulnerable kids for the last three decades. The room [...] Continue Reading
How many times have you heard the following? We don’t have enough foster parents. There aren’t enough qualified parents to care for our kids. There is a crisis-level shortage of available homes. If you live the child welfare life, we’d guess every day. But that’s not the full story. Those statements would lead you to [...] Continue Reading
Click here to download a pdf. “Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional” Caring for children and youth who have survived severe and complicated trauma can be exhausting and finding peace among the chaos can be daunting. When we enter survival mode, we can lose perspective and situations can quickly spiral out of emotional control. WHAT […]
Part 3 of a 3-part blog series about The Coalition’s National Program Advisor, Ian Forber Pratt On July 11, 2018, Ian Forber-Pratt boarded a plane to St. Louis. Over the last 9 years, he’d been at the forefront of a movement to change the face of child welfare in India. Now he was headed back [...] Continue Reading
Part 2 of a 3-part blog series about The Coalition’s National Program Advisor, Ian Forber Pratt In a cluttered, sweltering government building in Rajasthan, India, Ian Forber Pratt stood sweating in the office of the Director of the Department of Child Rights (DCR). He had come to ask permission to do something unprecedented: create a [...] Continue Reading
Part 1 of a 3-part blog series about The Coalition’s National Program Advisor, Ian Forber Pratt Ian Forber-Pratt went to the courthouse in 2009 to begin his first case as an Extreme Recruiter. He entered the courtroom to the sound of screaming. Ian backed against the wall as Mallory*, age 14, was wheeled out of [...] Continue Reading
We sat down with Tess Gaeng, a recent “graduate” of our Dennis & Judy Jones Family Foundation Foster Care & Adoption Program, and mom to four-year-old Ayden. Why did you decide to foster? I always knew I wanted to be a parent, but I wasn’t sure that biological children was the way that would happen. [...] Continue Reading
Maliek was hospitalized after a terrible beating by his father. Lost to addiction, his mother was unable to care for him. 30 Days to Family® found that his maternal grandma wanted him. As a refugee from the Rwandan genocide, however, she didn’t have a good grasp of English. Family Court said that because grandma couldn’t […]
Watch Jason's feature on "A Place to Call Home." With his awesome sense of humor, Jason is a lot of fun to be around! An affectionate and friendly kid, Jason is a great conversationalist with an engaging personality. He is super enthusiastic and is always eager to help others. He takes pride in his strengths, [...] Continue Reading
“What began as a handful of reform-minded dreamers is now a cutting-edge leader in policy and practice. 30 years in, our groundbreaking and data-driven work has created dramatic change in the lives of our region’s most vulnerable children.” In the late 1980s and early 90s, the United States was gripped by a drug epidemic. Cheap, […]
During the holidays, we are inundated with messages from a number of sources (movies, music, TV, social media, commercials) about how we should be feeling joyful, happy, and thankful. Surrounded by loving (and attractive) family, laughter, fancy food served at perfectly set tables and loads of expensive gifts, these images rarely reflect the truth for […]
Watch Brandon's feature on "A Place to Call Home." Brandon is an active, kind, and friendly young man. This 15-year-old is a pleasure to be with and his smile will light up any room! By others, Brandon is described as talkative, social, and inquisitive. He describes himself as smart and funny; saying he likes to [...] Continue Reading
Let Go Your Ego: A Barrier for Child Welfare Workers 
