KC Cares

KC Cares

FosterAdopt Connect

By Beth Lipoff

Becoming a foster or adoptive parent is a big step, filled with lots of challenges. FosterAdopt Connect has several resources targeted at families in Kansas to make those transitions easier, including the Kansas Caregivers Support Network and Kansas Post Adoption Resource Center, which both give adults education and contacts that can help them be effective parents. Those caregivers might be grandparents, other family members, or folks who have no biological family connection to the children.

“They could need help locating financial support or navigating the different systems, such as the foster care system. It could be that they are struggling with meeting the needs of a child, so that child could then be in need of mental health or medical services,” says Crystal Fox, manager of family support programs for FosterAdopt Connect.

The nonprofit took over a state contract to make these services available in July 2021.

“We provide training to families, mainly involved around parenting children who come from hard places or have experienced trauma through abuse or neglect. In situations like that, we also provide a support group for families,” Fox says.

According to Fox, most of the employees at FosterAdopt Connect have been foster parents themselves, which gives them lots of experience when it comes to aiding families as they sift through their options.

“We have a conversation with the family and try to understand what they’re experiencing and what the most important need at that time is—and also look at that problem to see how that situation could be impacting other areas,” Fox says.

They develop a plan of action, referring the family to the best-fitting resources for whatever the issue is and “trying to take some of that [stress] off the families themselves because many times families are reaching out in the midst of a crisis.”

A lot of the training they offer centers around trauma-informed parenting. Live training sessions are available for families and are free online.

It’s not just older children who may need extra help from their caregivers in a foster or adoptive situation. Foster and adoptive parents with children of any age may need help handling the effects of trauma a child has endured.

“I think there’s a misconception that when children are taken at a young age, the trauma is impacted differently. Say a baby is removed from the home and placed in a safe, loving home—there’s that misconception that that child’s not going to experience struggles related to the trauma they experienced even at that young age,” Fox says.

When LuAn Crowe moved back to Kansas in 2020 after taking custody of her grandchildren, having the classes available through FosterAdopt Connect was really important to her. Her own children were in their 20s and 30s, so suddenly parenting a 4and 6-year-old again took some adjustment.

“There were just a lot of different things in the world going on, and unfortunately, they have come from not a great spot, so learning how to deal with some of that trauma and their new diagnoses—[I wanted] anything that could help me feel like I was on my own feet so that I could help them,” Crowe says. “...It was like being a brand-new parent again.”

She’s participated in a few retreats with the kids and even got a scholarship to attend the conference of the North American Council on Adoptable Children in Kansas City this past July. Just knowing FosterAdopt Connect is there and able to connect her family to whatever resources she might need makes a big difference for Crowe.

“Anytime I need them, I’m able to call them or email them. If they don’t know it, they’ll find out for me. I just feel more secure,” she says. “I don’t have a lot of family around us that can help us. They’re like family. They’re the village helping me stand up.”

Although some programs are specific to Kansas, the organization does provide other services in Missouri, too. If a family adopts a child through the Kansas foster care system but does not live in Kansas, they can still access the Kansas-focused programs.

One way to help is to become a respite care provider and volunteer at respite care events, which give caregivers a short break from the kids while also letting the kids meet others in similar situations to themselves. For more information on how to do this, visit fosteradopt.org/getting-involved/become-respite-care-provider