October 2015 UPCOMING EVENTS October 6 -
SWMO Resource Provider Support Group. Topic: Parents as Teachers & Child Safety Location: Baptist Church, 2210 West Republic Rd., Springfield, MO. Time: 6pm - 8 pm Free dinner! Childcare provided with a suggested donation of $4/child. There will also be activities and homework help at the Springfield Support Group for ages 9-18!
Topic: Parents as Teachers Location: Faith & Wisdom Church, 3950 Green Mountain Dr., Branson, MO Time: 6 pm - 8 pm Free dinner! Childcare provided with a suggested donation of $4/child.
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New Programs Are “Game Changers”
newborn was brought into custody due to drug use by the biological mother, the alleged father is incarcerated. Because the child was put into MFCAA’s 30 Days to Family program, after only 6 days, the infant was moved to the home of a maternal cousin.
A homestudy was written and sent/approved by the team. 140 Relatives were identified within the first week of receiving the referral for 30 Days to Family. A homestudy was also written on the back-up placement option (maternal grandparents), and there is a second back-up placement option identified. Fingerprints were completed with results in this time, as well as child abuse and neglect checks, LexisNexis (criminal searches), case net, and sex offender October 13 - 38th Circuit Support Group checks.
October 22 - Center Training Night Topic: Rich Hill - A documentary sharing the story of kids and their families as they struggle with poverty in Rich Hill, MO. Location: MFCAA, 1774 S. Grant, Springfield, MO Time: 6 pm - 8 pm To register, contact Julie at 417-8663672 or julieh@mfcaa.org.
1774 1/2 S. Grant Avenue Springfield, MO 65803 417-866-3672 www.mfcaa.org
The case started on 9/18/2015. The child was moved on 9/28/2015. The 30 Days Specialist has identified many relative supports as well to ensure this is a successful placement. Extreme Recruitment® (originally piloted by MFCAA’s sister organization the Foster and Adoptive Care Coalition of St. Louis) is a new, highly effective model of resource development for foster youth who exhibit significant mental or behavioral challenges, and were traditionally considered hopeless cases for placement. This program model uses a team of investigators and recruiters to mapout biological family members and resource providers specific to each participating youth – identifying, on average, 80 potential placement and support providers. By identifying these resources, Extreme Recruitment creates a “roadmap to family” which greatly increases the chances that these children will experience a successful, permanent placement. We are excited to be able to report that our “Extreme Recruitment” program is also running in Springfield and Southwest Missouri! Extreme Recruitment® serves the hardest-to-place children: those who are ages 10-18, sibling groups, children of color, and/or youth with emotional, developmental, medical or behavioral concerns. Extreme Recruitment® is unique because it: • Requires weekly, intensive meetings between the child’s professional team members for 12-20 weeks Continued on page 3
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Welcome Our New Team!
eeley Casteel is a 30 Days to Family Specialist for the MFCAA Springfield office. She graduated from Missouri State University in 2014 with her bachelor’s degree in Social Work. Prior to working at MFCAA, Keeley was a targeted case manager at a residential facility in the Springfield area, serving mainly youth in foster care. Keeley has seen such a need for this resource through previous experiences in the field and is excited to be working with children in foster care from the perspective of finding safe and loving homes for them grow in. Keeley has always had a heart for adoption and feels passionately about fostering and/or adopting in the future. She is recently married and enjoys spending her free time exploring the world around her with her husband, dog, and family.
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oe Medina grew up in the Kansas City area and attended the University of Missouri obtaining a bachelor’s degree in the Administration of Justice. He came to Springfield in 1986 to work for the City of Springfield. Joe recently retired from the Springfield Art Museum to work for Midwest Foster Care & Adoption Association. He enjoys living in Springfield and being active in outdoor activities such as hiking, biking, fishing, and sports activities. Joe follows the Royals and Chiefs religiously. He loves to relax and spend time with family when not keeping up with the chores. Joe says he is most known for his joy of good food and so it is fitting that he loves to cook, and try new foods around town.
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ulie Murray is a Family Advocate at the Southwest Missouri Resource Center in Springfield. Originally from Detroit, Michigan, she relocated to the Springfield area where she worked as an executive sales coordinator and progressed into an Office Manager position developing policies and procedures for an international business. She has been happily married to her husband Max for 20 years, and is the mother of 5 as a stepparent, biological parent and adoptive parent, and Grammy to two precious little ones. Julie and her husband have been foster parents for just over 8 years caring for children ages 1 to 17. In addition, she is a Foster Parent Training for both STARS and Spaulding. Julie’s passion is to offer support to families who have a desire to help children heal and to thrive in safe, nurturing homes, whether those homes be biological, foster, or adoptive.
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irginia Law graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology and Criminal Justice Studies from Missouri State University. She went to work for DYS in a residential treatment facility for 5 years before going to work for the Greene County Children’s Division. Virginia worked in multiple positions within the agency over a 10 year period. Following that career, Virginia worked for Missouri Alliance for Children and Families as a Permanency Specialist from 5/2014 – 9/2015, assisting children in foster care find permanency through guardianship or adoption. Now that she has joined MFCAA, she will be licensing families identified through 30 days to Family and Extreme Recruitment as well as facilitating foster parent support group meetings, volunteer coordination, and other activities to support foster and adoptive families. Virginia as a passion for helping to find children in foster care support and lifelong connections. In her free time she enjoys spending time with friends and family, as well as writing and performing spoken word poetry. Her future goals include becoming a foster and adoptive parent.
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Welcome Our New Team!
manda Metcalf is our newest Extreme Recruiter on the Springfield team. Amanda moved to the area in 1998 while attending college at SMSU, and stayed after graduating. Following her marriage to Dr. Chris Metcalf, she left the area for two years while her husband was in the military. The couple returned to Springfield in 2015 with their three children, deciding to make Springfield their permanent home. Amanda has a background in case management of children in care, previously working for several years for a contracted agency that dealt with stepping down children in level 4+ placements.
30 cont’ Days & ER d from page 1 • Focuses on preparing the youth for adoption, including their mental health and educational needs • Implements all forms of adoption recruitment simultaneously • Employs a private investigator to help with the diligent search for relatives/kin Extreme Recruitment® philosophies include: • Foster care is intended to be a temporary living arrangement • Every child is adoptable and deserves a loving home • Relative/kinship placements are generally pre- ferred, however non-relative placements are also explored • Having multiple options for permanency is not a problem • Every person in a child’s life can offer assistance, especially by providing information • Youth do not need to be “stable” to be worthy of a permanent home--many youth need permanency before their behaviors will truly stabilize • Private Investigators bring a necessary skill set to the program We are beyond excited to not only have these programs available to Southwest Missouri, but to have the support of Children’s Division, Greene County Juvenile Office and more in making this happen.
Missouri Customer Service Partnership Program Missouri Customer Service Partnership program is a partnership between Ozarks Technical Community College (OTC) and Community Partnership of the Ozarks. The purpose of this program is to encourage foster youth and youth who have been through the Division of Youth Services (DYS), ages 17-21 that are not presently engaged in school or a career path to begin a meaningful, entry-level career. Eligible youth will complete a 10- week training program through OTC. Upon completion they will have 3 professional certificates and 6 college credit hours, along with the confidence and skills they will need to be successful in meaningful employment. They will also have access to higher education opportunities with OTC to continue post-secondary education. Once the youth complete the 10-week program, they will receive help finding employment. Youth will receive on-going support for 12 months post completion. Additionally, the Missouri Customer Service Partnership program will be recruiting career mentors that will support the youth once they are employed to ensure youth are supported with their career track – not just “in a job”. If you would like more information regarding MCSP please contact Amanda Coleman: 447-3515 or acoleman@commpartnership.org
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A Letter from Our Youth
his month’s newsletter topic is the use and overuse of psychiatric medications on children in foster care. This is a topic of concern nationally, and child advocacy organizations are asking, pestering, and even suing states that have high rates of psychotropic medication use within their foster care populations. Because this issue is physically and emotionally impacting our young people, MFCAA believes this topic is ripe for consideration and discussion by the people it is most likely to impact. Please read the article below, written by our Youth Programs Director and the members of the MFCAA Youth Speak Out Team. It is important to start the conversation by understanding the benefits of psychotropic medications for some children and teens. All young people who come into foster care have experienced some level of trauma, at the very least being taken away from their family of origin. For many young people, the trauma suffered early in life can trigger genetic predispositions for mental health issues. In these instances it can be challenging for the young person to fully control their overwhelming behaviors and impulses. This is where medication can be most effective. Appropriate medications can help young people learn to take control of their emotions and behaviors in a safe and guided way. “I feel that kids that really need medication should have access to it, especially if the kid agrees that it helps make things easier. But for those kids who have minimal problems, they should be given opportunities to control themselves without having to be on medication for a long time.” -Max “Even when kids need medication someone should really be looking into what is actually wrong with them, not just medicating children to keep them from being a bother.” -Misty The problem, however, is that for some young people, prescribed medications are not given with individualized thought to the child’s needs and conditions. In some cases, it has become easier to medicate a child than provide the necessary therapeutic interventions that would allow the young person to become mentally stable. Other concerns surround what medications are being used, for what purposes, and for what duration. Without appropriate monitoring, psychotropic medications can actually hurt the child or aggravate mental illness. This is especially true when considering the introduction of multiple medications at the same time. It becomes challenging to understand which medications are working or counteracting others- consequentially creating a spiral effect of medication additions and subtractions. “Children often are misdiagnosed because those who are in charge of assessing the child’s need to be on medication don’t know anything about the child. They don’t take the time to get to know the child, and instead jump to the conclusion that they are crazy and need a chemical to make them better.” -Weston “I think that putting kids on medication just because they come into the foster care system is irresponsible. Studies show that many of the medications children are on aren’t even for kids, and the doctors have no idea what the side effects will be.” -Megan Recent studies have revealed that about 1 in every 5 children in the foster care system is on at least one psychotropic medication. Of this population between 10% and 15% are on more than one potent medication. What is
most upsetting is that one study found quality-of-care concerns in 67% of reviewed cases involving children on psychotropic medications, which included wrong dosages, too many medications, and medications taken for too long (taken from CBS News). “I remember being on medication as one of the worst experiences of my life. I constantly felt sick and suicidal. Now that I am off of my medication I feel like my brain has never returned to how it functioned before, and sometimes it is very hard for me to focus because I feel like my brain has developed a codependency on the drugs.” -Ashley “What happens when the child becomes an adult and decides to suddenly stop taking their medication? How will they know how to cope with stress and problems without chemical intervention if they have never been given the opportunity to do so? To me, the adults in charge of foster children are partially responsible for the high percentage of illegal drug use within this population. They are taught that they needs drugs to control them.” -Jacob Medication treatment should never be the only form of treatment used for young people with mental health diagnoses. Many youth have expressed a need for caring adults to talk to and problem solve with in getting their behaviors and emotional concerns under control. The human component can be highly effective in working with young people with mental health issues. Unfortunately, this costs money and many states have found it easier to heavily medicate children until they are released from the system. This, and other factors such as multiple placements, high social work turnover, and a lack of qualified psychiatrists who will accept Medicaid and monitor the mental health of patients, have led to several disturbing practices. “I feel like the state is stingy and anyway they can save money they will. I feel like the outcomes would be much better for kids if they were given more personal relationships and counseling to help with their problems and less medications. I feel grateful that I am in a tribe and therefore have more oversight on what I am prescribed.” -Jason One such practice includes the use of certain medications for off-label purposes. One article revealed that only about 31% of the medications used by psychiatrists for treating children with mental health issues are actually FDA approved. The other 69% of medications are approved by the FDA but for different purposes than how doctors are using them. For example, Seroquel and Risperidone, medications that have been FDA approved to help treat schizophrenia, have been used off-label to treat depression and bipolar disorder. While the use of medications for off-label purposes is legal, and in some cases beneficial, the problem lies in the lack of evidence about the short-term and long-term effects of these medications on developing young people. The prevalent fallacy is that adult medications are okay for children as long as they are given in child-size dosages. The reason that this thinking is not necessarily correct is because it doesn’t take into account the differences in development for adults versus young people. As children grow into teens, and teens into young adults, their brains and nervous systems change at rapid rates. It is still unclear how exactly the chemicals in psychotropic medications modify or hinder those developments. What is known is that some medications cause lasting side effects for young people, including tics, tremors, hallucinations, and eating disorders that result from rapid weight gain or appetite loss (Solchany, 2011). “Medications chemically change the brain and can cause physiological changes, such as losing or gaining weight. When a side effect is not approved of, doctors are quick to change the medication, most times abruptly. They don’t realize that the sudden change in medications can take a toll on the body and mind. After being medicated the brain doesn’t ever seem to go back to normal.” -Kaci So what can parents do? There are several questions that each parent should ask when looking at using psychotropic interventions for their children. Those questions include:
Letter from Our Youth cont’d from page 5
• What are the possible side effects of this medication and how will they be handled? • What evidence supports the use of this medication with children? • Who will monitor the ongoing use of this medication and how often will the child be seen? • What other interventions will be used with this medication to keep the dosage low and short-term? • How will this medication help improve the child’s functioning and what is the plan if this medication proves ineffective? As parents of children who suffered from trauma there is a responsibility to advocate for the safety and wellbeing for all who come into your care. We must all use our voices and expertise to reshape how the system of medicating children is conducted. Medications save the lives of millions of people everyday, and under the right supervision can positively change the life of a child who suffered from abuse and neglect. But the supervision and human component have to be there. These are our children. If we don’t advocate for their safety who will? Thank you all for the great work you do for children in care. Continue to be the champions children need and advocate for positive mental health treatment. With great respect and admiration, Nathan Ross and the Youth Speak Out team. For more information on this topic please visit the following: • http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/ administrative/child_law/PsychMed.authcheckdam. pdf • http://www.childrensdefense.org/newsroom/childwatch-columns/child-watch-documents/ OvermedicatingChildrenInFosterCare.html?referrer=https://www.google.com/ • http://www.cbsnews.com/news/foster-care-kidsput-on-too-many-psych-drugs-report-says/
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Help host a Parent’s Night Out to provide foster/ adoptive parents an afternoon or evening of refreshment and renewal. Meanwhile, you get to connect with some pretty awesome kiddos!
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Organize a $15 Payless Shoe Store Gift Card drive to help us provide shoes for kids in foster care.
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Host an event to collect either new clothing or gently used, freshly laundered clothing for children being served at Sammy’s Window.
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Spread the word we are in constant need of beds and dressers for kids coming into care.
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Host a drive at your business, school, church, or club to gather hygiene items, new backpacks, or food for Sammy’s Window.
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Help sort and organize clothing at Sammy’s Window.
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Create a fundraising event for friends and coworkers to participate in making a difference with you.
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Connect us with your church, club, or civic group to help us raise awareness for the needs of foster and adoptive children and older youth.
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Donate snacks and drinks for trainings and respite events.
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Provide a meal for a support group meeting in Christian or Taney counties.
If you or your group would like to help kids in foster and adoptive care, call Julie at 417-866-3672 or julieh@mfcaa.org
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A NEW CHAPTER BEGINS
hen two people have made such a difference in the lives of so many children and families, it’s hard to say good-bye. That being said, we’re not saying good-bye to Deb Fusek and Dana Lopez, we are merely wishing them well in their new ventures and we know they’ll still be out there making a difference. The services they provided to families and the community will continue through our new team, but to those of you who worked with these ladies, you know they will be missed.
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TASTE OF JAZZ
hat a great event we had at The Venues Church on September 10th! The ambience of the lights, the beautiful floral arrangements and elegantly decorated tables combined with some great Jazz Music provided by the Randy Hamm Quartet and Bella Donna made for a wonderful night of fun with friends. Top that off with some great beverages and food provided by our wonderful sponsors and everybody was sure to have a great time. Thank you to all of our sponsors and to Ray Massey for donating your auction services. Thanks to everybody’s generosity, we raised over $9,000 for the foster and adoptive families we serve.
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Have your kids outgrown their clothes? Have you updated their rooms and have gently used beds or dressers that you no longer need? Are you an extreme couponer who has a stockpile of hygiene items that you could part with? Sammy’s Window is always accepting donations of gently used clothing and furniture. Sammy’s is often one of the first stops in the journey of a child in foster care to get clothes to wear, hygiene items of their own and other items to make them feel good about themselves. If you have items or maybe you have a group or organization that can organize a drive, the kids in care would sure appreciate it. For more information, contact Mark at 417-849-7941 or mark@mfcaa.org.
Your Support Will Make an Impact on the Lives of Youth in our Community!
1774 S. Grant Avenue Springfield, MO 65807 417-866-3672 www.mfcaa.org