One of the most challenging things for children in foster care is maintaining connections with their biological family.
Finding a safe place to meet can be a roadblock to the process.
All For Family, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting foster children and their families, has a solution. The group has opened a family visit center in Hillsboro.
An open house is scheduled from 2-4 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, at the facility at 10310 Business 21, across from the Children’s Division complex in Hillsboro. Face masks and social-distancing guidelines will be observed.
All For Family received a $10,000 grant from the Jefferson Foundation earlier this year, which the group’s founder, Angel Williams of High Ridge, said originally was earmarked for staff.
“We were going to hire administrative support,” she said. “But then we found this site and the price was right; the location was perfect.”
It also made sense, Williams said, to use the funds to rent the facility once the coronavirus pandemic amplified an already-pressing need for visit space.
“The first effort with kids in foster care is reunification (of the biological family),” said Alicia Knickman, executive director of Jefferson County CASA, an organization that provides support to children in the care of the juvenile court system. “Visitation helps parents build and maintain the bonds they have with their children.”
When visits are limited, the child’s family support team has difficulty assessing whether those bonds are strong enough to make reunification possible, Knickman said.
Williams pointed out that, with a shortage of foster homes in the county, siblings may not be placed together.
“These visits might be the only time they get to see their brothers or sisters,” she said.
Williams said family visits often are held at public places, like libraries, restaurants or parks, many which are closed or have drastically limited availability since the pandemic.
“And, honestly, the public locations don’t always work well, even before COVID hit,” she said. “At someplace like McDonald’s, the kids are off on the play equipment and not really interacting with the parents.”
The new facility has space for a table and chairs, shelves and bins for toys and supplies, a comfy rocking chair, a changing table for infants and floor space for activities.
“It’s small, but nice,” Williams said. “It’s a nice, private, friendly place for one family at a time.”
More volunteers are needed
In addition to a safe, appropriate location, families need a supervisor for each visit. All For Family recruits volunteers to serve in that capacity.
“The Children’s Division provides a background check and some training,” Williams said. “It’s a perfect opportunity for seniors, retired or semi-retired, or really anyone who has time to give to the foster care community. We don’t require a minimum, but we like to see them sign up for at least one visit a month. We post a list online of the times we need to fill and they sign up if available.”
Knickman said supervisors mostly just observe and take notes, but they may also give parents who are struggling with parenting skills gentle reminders or tips about age-appropriate interactions.
Williams said scheduling supervised family visits is an ongoing struggle.
“Things like work, school, drug court, child care for other children in the home can cut into the time available for visits, and if the number of supervisors is limited, that cuts it down even further,” she said. “We have parents who have 16 hours of visitation approved, but they only manage to get in four hours. So they go to court and it looks like they aren’t trying when they’ve really been doing a good job and making a great effort.”
Knickman said it’s important to keep the end goal in mind.
“No matter whether children are in a foster home, a pre-adoptive home, a therapeutic home, a residential community or back with their parents, we need to keep them safe, keep them moving forward to something that is going to result in permanency.”
Williams said while some agencies provide parent aid services on a paid basis, All For Family doesn’t charge families.
“Most of these parents aren’t bad people; they have made life choices they’re working on correcting. They still love their kids, and the kids love them. They are doing the best they can, and we think they should be able to see their kids.”
Camp may offer one-stop help
All For Family is planning a new event designed to provide foster families even more help.
“We are going to offer a family foster care training camp weekend May 14-16 at Pinecrest Campground in Fredericktown, Williams said.
Foster care licensure requires recertification every two years, including 30 hours of training.
“Some of the required classes are offered few and far between, and sometimes in locations far away from where families live. And then there’s the matter of what to do with the children while the parents do the training,” Williams said. “Lack of training hours is the number one reason foster parents involuntarily lose their license. My hope is that, in that one weekend, foster families will walk away with at least half of their hours done.”
Families will stay in cabins or tents, and parents will take part in training sessions and classes.
“We will provide training materials and personnel,” Williams said. “We are trying to offer adoption classes, breakout sessions and more. The intent is for foster parents to complete as many sessions as possible in one weekend, while kids are being supervised and entertained by trained volunteers.”
The cost is about $500 per family, including lodging and meals.
“We have written a grant for assistance,” Williams said. “We hope to raise enough money to give some scholarships if possible. Bringing Families Together has agreed to provide some of the trainers and training materials for this event, and I would love to see some businesses or companies or churches or even groups of individuals come together to sponsor a family.
“If we pull enough agencies together to do this, we can make it an annual tradition.”
Since its founding in late 2018, All For Family has held several fundraisers.
“We had a benefit concert that raised about $1,400,” Williams said. “A Trivia Night in January raised more than $800.”
Unfortunately, the pandemic has brought fundraising to a halt.
“It has really hurt us,” Williams said. “We are now planning an online auction in October with Halloween items, fall decor, holiday gifts. We would love to get donations, and it’s tax-deductible.”
Proceeds will go toward rent on the building, insurance, cleaning and other supplies, website and phone costs, and training and educational materials.
For information, go to the group’s website at allforfamily.net or call 636-345-5222.