DEDICATED EMPLOYEES
COUNTIES SERVED IN KS AND MO
LIVES POSITIVELY IMPACTED
PROGRAMS TO SUPPORT AND STRENGTHEN FAMILIES
Founder and CEO
Our vision for a better tomorrow
Trauma is contagious. When a child is removed from their home, they experience it. Their parents likely experienced a great deal of it themselves well before they had children. And, unless there is intervention and healing, the trauma will continue into the next generation. But, there is hope!
FosterAdopt Connect works with hurting children and all of the various types of families (birth, foster, kinship, relative, adoptive) who find themselves involved with our child welfare systems in Missouri and Kansas. Our kids and families often come to us whirling around in that cycle of trauma unable to find the way out. We do our best to meet them exactly where they are to embrace and come alongside them as they make their way along the path toward healing, safety, family reunification, permanency, and the resolution of generational trauma.
Your financial generosity empowers us to provide a wide range of services that support kids, their biological families, and foster/adoptive parents. Through prevention, intervention, education, and community building, we all have a part to play in bringing hope to kids who need it. Let’s take a look at what you helped us accomplish last year.
Adopt Kansas Kids
We believe every child deserves a loving, caring home and a family they can call their own. At Adopt Kansas Kids we help children find a place where they belong and people who will always be there for them. Click here to learn more.
Adoptions finalized in 2023
Prospective families registered
K-PARC and Kansas Caregivers Support Network
The Kansas Post Adoption Resource Center (K-PARC) is dedicated to strengthening kinship and adoptive families in Kansas. We’re a group of families just like yours, working together to connect parents to great services and professionals that are doing great work. Click to learn more about K-PARC or click here to learn more about KCSN.
Hours of direct client advocacy and support provided
Individual training participants
30 Days to Family
30 Days to Family is an intense, short-term intervention designed to increase the number of children placed with family or friends within the first 30 days of entering foster care in order to maintain relationships with family. Click here to learn more.
%
Percentage of children placed with a relative/kinship option during a 30 Days to Family case, who remained in that placement at the most recent update
Advocacy
FosterAdopt Connect’s Advocacy Program helps families navigate the complex child welfare system. Our advocates all have personal experience with the foster care system and adoption, and can assist with almost everything a family might need help with. Click here to learn more.
KC Metro
South Missouri
North Missouri
NUMBER OF CLIENTS ASSISTED IN NAVIGATING THE CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM
Behavioral Interventionist
FosterAdopt Connect’s in-home Behavioral Interventionist (BI) program provides intensive one-on-one services to children who struggle with behavioral and emotional management. Click here to learn more.
%
Percentage of children who avoided placement changes due to behavioral concerns
Connect Cafe
The Connect Cafe is a social enterprise program of FosterAdopt Connect. The goal of the cafe is to provide youth currently or formerly in foster care with work experience, job skills, and soft skills that are helpful in successfully navigating future employment and advancement opportunities. Click here to learn more.
%
Percentage of the youth that completed the program who increased their Adaptive Mindset score, which measures goal and growth orientation
“I now have the confidence that I can do this and I believe in myself. I have learned how to not be sucked in by my family and how to respect myself and others. {…} I couldn’t have done this without my therapist and BI. You helped me get here, now I am doing it for myself!”
Clinical Services
Our Clinical Services program consists of an interdisciplinary team of qualified, licensed clinicians, all dedicated to promoting youth and family wellness and success. Click here to learn more.
Clients served in the KC Metro
%
Percentage of clients successfully graduated from treatment
Community Connections YouThrive
FosterAdopt Connect’s Community Connections YouThrive (CCYT) helps youth currently or formerly in foster care ages 17-26 navigate the struggles of approaching adulthood without a solid support system. Click here to learn more.
Youth obtained part-time or full-time employment
Youth received financial education on a monthly basis
Youth obtained housing throughout Missouri
“She does everything that she needs to from my view. {…} I didn’t have anyone going to bat hard for me and she’s gone to bat several times for me. I really respect and appreciate that. This has been the most caring program that I’ve been a part of.”
Extreme Family Finding
Extreme Family Finding puts a team of recruiters and private investigators to work finding multiple extended family members and kin relationships for children most at risk of aging out of foster care without an adoptive resource. Click here to learn more.
%
Percentage of children matched for adoption in the KC Metro
%
Percentage of children matched for adoption in South Missouri
Fostering Prevention
In times of significant hardship, family support in crucial areas can prevent children from entering foster care while providing them stability and safety. FosterAdopt Connect is a resource for families at risk of losing custody of their children. Click here to learn more.
%
Percentage of children safely prevented from entering foster care
“I can’t ever repay you for everything you have done! I brag on you all the time! You are the best life changers in the best of ways! I feel so blessed!”
“Thank you all for everything you all do everything year to make this possible. We appreciate the donors, and all the staff. Happy holidays and a safe New year”
Give Joy
Kids in foster care hurt during the holidays, but gifts help give joy. With the generosity of donors, we are able to fulfill a child’s wish list and foster kids can have happier childhoods. Click here for volunteer opportunities.
Total children received gifts throughout our service areas
Kinship Navigator
FosterAdopt Connect provides kinship support for grandparents, relatives, and other caregivers who are providing the children they love with a nurturing and loving home. Click here to learn more.
%
Percentage of children who maintain placement stability in the KC Metro
%
Percentage of children who maintain placement stability in South Missouri
“I would just like to say I love Jessica so much, she’s probably my favorite state person I’ve ever worked with. She is amazing at what she does and I’m so thankful to have had her as my advocate.”
Legal Advocacy
FosterAdopt Connect’s Legal Advocacy team connects youth currently or formerly in foster care with attorney representation to aid with resolving minor legal issues. Click here to learn more.
Individuals served
Legal cases resolved
Licensing
Why become a foster parent? Every child deserves to be safe, loved, and healthy, and the best place to heal from abuse or neglect is in the care of a loving family. Click here to learn more.
New households licensed to foster in Missouri
Sammy’s Window
Sammy’s Window provides a wide variety of free items to lift the tangible burden of caring for youth who are in foster care, have been adopted, or who are at risk of coming into care. Through the ongoing help of community donations, FosterAdopt Connect stocks items for all stages of child development. Click here to learn more.
Value of resources and goods given to families
School Supply Drive
As the next school year begins, many students feel left behind, especially those in foster care who are more likely to struggle in the classroom under normal circumstances. Click here to learn more.
Children served in Independence
Children served in North Missouri
Children served in South Missouri
Children served in Kansas
Training
Our Training team equips foster parents and caregivers with tools to call upon during a variety of parenting situations. From learning how to manage medications, care for hair, or respond in a health or behavioral crisis, this training increases your ability to provide stable love to a child in their care. Click here to learn more.
Number of training attendees for the KC Metro
Number of training attendees in Macon
Number of training attendees in South Missouri
Youth Acceptance Project
The Youth Acceptance Project (YAP) is a clinical model that works with the families of LGBTQ+ youth to address emotions related to their child’s sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. YAP helps families learn new and supportive behaviors to improve their child’s well-being and their own understanding. Click here to learn more.
Number of professionals in the community educated about YAP
YouthConnect Center
The YouthConnect Center (YCC) is a drop-in center for school-aged youth 13-18 years old. The YCC aims to eliminate any obstacles that youth-including those facing housing insecurity- face accessing available community resources. Click here to learn more.
Number of youth served
Number of emergency services administered (showers, laundry, food, shelter, clothing, bus passes).
Sharehouse
Many families cannot travel to our Springfield Sammy’s Window . They work, have school, or simply the miles are too great for them to afford the gas. Sammy’s Window recently developed a Mobile Unit to meet clients where they are in the 13 counties surrounding Springfield.
Our Sammy’s Window Mobile Unit operates year round to make sure families in our 13 surrounding counties have access to our food pantry when they need it. Replaying moments, like those in El Dorado Springs where families are waiting outside of the drop off location, for supplies. For many of the families we serve, having access to these additional resources is a make or break. Click here to learn more.
Average number of additional children served each month
OUTCOMES
Our Poplar Bluff branch increased their overall Sammy’s Window clients by 37%. Our Mountain Grove branch served 1,016 families and children in their first year as a FRC.
ADDITIONS
Our Chillicothe branch completed their capital campaign to renovate their new space and added new programs to their service area. Our Cape Girardeau branch added a new office space to go along with their Hope Children’s Home and Sammy’s Window locations.
EVENTS
Northeast Missouri hosted a successful ATV fundraising event that helped introduce the community to the agency. Our Joplin branch hosted their first Journey Home event for area stakeholders educating them on how the child welfare system works.
KCK Capital Campaign
Big things are in the works for our Kansas branch as well. Our renovations to the historic Kansan newspaper building will create space for resources to support youth aging out of foster care through our Community Connections Youth Project (CCYP), vocational job training, and a 15-bed emergency drop-in shelter for youth ages 17-23. Additional focus areas will be support for LGBTQ+ youth and specialized programs related to acute behavioral and mental health needs. Our caring and highly-trained team of advocates will research and identify additional community resources for the youth and families we serve.
To learn more about our newest campaign, click below.
NEARLY COMPLETED!
Construction begins in 2024
