[Dessmom]

Hey there! I am a potential foster mom, REALLY interested in it but am having trouble getting started. Sooo confused about state or agency? I have made many phone call but feel as though I can't get a straight answer. I called 1-800-FOSTER-3 almost 2 weeks ago, and they took my info and said they'd have a case worker call me, well I"VE called THEM several times and they say they'll call me back-then don't. Does anyone know if this is a valid organization? Should I just go through the city? Or a local agency? What is the difference between the 2? Does anyone know any good agencies in Missouri? I know that there is a need for good foster homes, so why is it so hard to get started? Thank you for your help

[Yash]

I'm with a private agency and I love it. My childrens' DCF workers are sometimes hard to get a hold of. Sometimes take days to return a phone call. My SW with my agency returns all my calls and emails within one business day. Usually it's within hours. If I have a particularly difficult CW (county worker) it's nice to have a go-between.

My agency is selective on the cases they accept from the county. This was an added protection I truly appreciated.

I feel my agency is on my side and is honest with me. This hasn't always been my experience with CWs.

My suggestion is to go with a private agency. The support you get can be life saving.

[jeni-b]

I'm with a private agency too. For all the reasons listed above, we love them.

[Dessmom]

Thank you so much, so good to finally get a straight answer! I have done some online searching for foster/adopt agencies in Missouri with little luck. The agencies that I did find were either adopt only or Christian faith ( with the specifcation that you have to be part of the Christian church to use as an ageny). Any ideas on how to find an agency in Missouri, specifically St. Louis city/county/St. Charles? Thanks.

[melissa77]

In Missouri I contacted the foster care coalition. They referred me to an agency and I was signed up for foster class with in a week. I too contacted several agencies directly and never got anywhere. The Foster Care Coalition is great resource and helped us to get things moving quickly.

Missouri contracts all of the children who need placements to other agencies. From what I've heard, you don't have children placed with you directly from the state. They are placed through the contracted agencies. The agency that we are working with is called Epworth. If you have more questions let me know.

[chevyjewel]

I prefer to go through the county. I get more support that I could ever ask for and services for my kids that are priceless. Our experience has been a dream and we love all of our workers, they've become almost like extended family to us. They not only get back to me near immediately with any concerns but I have their cell and/or home numbers for emergencies. Intake is there 24/7 no matter what to get us through anything day or night. If they don't have the answer they'll work until they find it. Two and a half years and I don't have a single complaint, at least with the county, some of our kids bless their hearts, have been toughies but that's to be expected.

We've been attempted to be recruited by several agencies in our area but one, most of them around here place the kids in their care for money, that's something I have a HUGE issue with. Just because a family doesn't have $30 grand + to spend to "get" a kid doesn't mean they don't deserve to have a family. I don't care how rich or poor potential parents are, if they are financially stable and can care for that child why should they have to drop $1000 on a homestudy, $1000's on legal fees, worker visits, therapies and filing charges and research and the ridiculous list goes on and on and on. I researched this to the gills before chosing agency or county and I was FLOORED by some of what agencies charge potential parents for, especially because many of them claimed to be not for profit religious organizations that only wanted to help make families. Bull. That's money parents could be using to care for their adopted child, therapies to help them deal with what they've been through, college funds etc. Why can the counties do it all LITERALLY not for profit and they can't??? I'll never understand why anyone would go that route to foster or adopt personally. And two, the ones that aren't for profit work with the really hard to place kiddos, having young children ourselves we can't take kiddos like that right now.

We got in touch with them by simply looking up human services in our local phone book. Someone got back to us about our inquiry to become foster parents and sent out a gigantic informational packet the very same day. We started with our classes within a couple of weeks and our licensing workers were AWESOME about getting us set up asap. Still took awhile obviously but they made it as painless as possible. We have tons of training opportunities made available to us too and I appreciate that.

I just can't say enough good things about my county and working with them the last couple of years. I doubt I'll ever foster for anyone else.

[fredalina]

My husband and i are waiting for our home study approval and licensing through the state (it's state-wide here, not county-specific). We chose not to use a private agency because in our state, private agencies are contracted specifically for the children with more behavior issues (or more serious ones), and the state keeps those with fewer.

Of course, a new child entering the system can be presumed to have fewer behavior issues but you won't know until the honeymoon period is over.

We felt that, as newbies to fostering and parenting in general, we wanted to avoid those with known issues as much as is reasonable. Of course they will all have issues dealing with grief and loss.