16.3 Placement Activities/Placement Support
The licensing worker will maintain at a minimum quarterly visits to the relative provider’s home. During these visits, the worker shall have meaningful conversations with the relative provider. These conversations are to allow for the sharing of concerns, accomplishments, and development of a mutual relationship of trust. The licensing worker shall review on-going licensing requirements and provide information on relevant in-service trainings, respite services, and support groups to meet the individual needs of the child and the relative provider. Placement support services are as important in relative foster homes as they are in any other type of out-of-home placement. The extent and frequency of support services will vary depending on the child’s specific needs and the provider’s capacity to meet those needs. The worker should not assume that the close relationship between child and provider precludes the need for regular contacts with the child (ren) and family and provision of supportive services to the child and/or relative.
The foster youth’s case manager will visit the foster youth per policy guidelines and the licensing worker will make a home visit to an unlicensed relative provider’s home every six (6) months until the child(ren) are no longer in the home or permanency is established with the provider through guardianship or adoption. The visit will include completion of the Resource Home and Safety Checklist, CS-45, and inquiring as to any concerns or needs of the unlicensed relative provider.
Upon placement of a relative foster youth in a relative resource provider home, the child is eligible for child specific financial benefits including:
- Infant allowance,
- Clothing allowance,
- Respite,
- Child care, and
- Allowable child specific transportation reimbursement.
Understandably, in many situations, the relative provider may allow the biological parent(s) of the child placed with them to be in the home as frequently as allowed by the case plan. The biological parent cannot live in the relative foster family home unless the parent is a youth in alternative care (CYAC).
Related Subject: Section 6 Chapter 16 Subsection 2 Agency Arranged Relative Foster Care; and Chapter 16 Subsection 2.5 Benefits of Licensure
16.3.1 Missouri Kinship Navigator Program
The Children’s Division has partnered with ParentLink, the Missouri Family Resource Centers, and other public and private community partners to connect informal and formal relative caregivers to quality information, outreach activities and support group services across Missouri.
The Missouri Kinship Navigator Program established a statewide toll-free phone line: 1-833-KIN-4KID (1-833-546-4543) that is operated by ParentLink staff who are trained to assist relative caregivers in identifying, locating, and accessing programs and services to meet the physical and emotional needs of the children they are raising as well as any needs of the relative/kinship caregiver.
The ParentLink staff operating the warm-line connect caregivers with Kinship Navigators from ParentLink or other agencies including: Central Missouri Foster Care and Adoption Association (CMFCAA), FosterAdopt Connect (FAC), and Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition (FACC) to provide kinship navigation services located in many communities across Missouri. For additional information on specific services, resources and locations, visit the ParentLink Kinship Navigator website: https://education.missouri.edu/navigators/
Chapter Memoranda History: (prior to 01-31-07)
CS03-32, CD04-79, CD05-80, CD06-37, CD06-46, CD06-75
Memoranda History:
CD09-80, CD10-72, CD10-102, CD11-88, CD17-15, CD17-42, CD18-16, CD20-56