Monday night, we transformed a classroom at The Crossing Church in Columbia, MO into a Hollywood-themed party. The party’s theme stems from the fact that we truly consider our STARS participants to be stars. They sacrifice so much just to become foster parents, and we know their sacrifices will continue as they begin their journey of welcoming children into their home. Their dedication does not go unnoticed, and we love to celebrate that.
We were thrilled to graduate 14 families from this round of the Specialized Training, Assessment, Resources, Support and Skills course. The course was taught completely online through Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
We held the graduation in-person, socially distanced. It was an opportunity for the classmates to see each other outside of Zoom for the first time. Some of our families joined the graduation over Zoom as a precaution.
“It is important for our graduates to realize the families with whom they complete the training are the individuals who understand the beginning stages of their journey the best,” Family Advocate Lorenzo Scott said. “Each individual training class has a unique bond, as no one else has experienced the training in the exact same way during the exact same time under the exact same circumstances. Trust and support are best acquired through shared experiences, and our families will benefit from leaning on those whom have shared their training experience.”
Our 14 families all hail from Boone and Cole counties. Many of them plan to foster or foster to adopt, but some are planning to provide respite care as well. Respite care is crucial to helping foster families flourish because it allows foster parents time away to rejuvenate and recharge. Some respite care providers offer overnight care. Others provide care for an afternoon or evening.
STARS is a required course for those wanting to become licensed foster parents in Missouri. This is the fifth session of STARS Coyote Hill Foster Care Ministries has taught in 2020 and many of our families are now fostering within the central Missouri area. As of November 11, 2020, we have licensed a total of 29 families.
We are gearing up for another round of training beginning in January. This STARS course will be taught in-person in Columbia over four Saturdays. All sessions are required to complete the course.
If you are interested in fostering, consider filling out our foster parent interest survey. We also held a Facebook Live that you can view discussing what it looks like to partner with Coyote Hill Foster Care Ministries in your foster care journey. We would love for you to join us there!
