“As we are licensing new foster families, we are really multiplying the number of beds that are open for children who have experienced trauma and who need a safe place to be a child™.”
~~Amy Kingery, Licensing and Training Director, explains the need and purpose of Coyote Hill Foster Care Ministries’s Foster Care Services.
In January 2020, we launched our Foster Care Services branch out of Columbia, Missouri. What better time than during National Foster Care Awareness Month to inform and remind our supporters of this essential new service we are providing to the community? We hope you’ll gain a better understanding of our Foster Care Services team as they share their purpose and perspective:
“Our Family Advocates complete home studies with our families as they go through STARS (Missouri’s required training for new foster parents),” Amy explains. “They maintain a relationship with the family to make sure the family has everything they need to be successful as foster parents. That could be anything from a Welcome basket when the family gets their first placement, to physical needs for their home, to more training throughout their foster parenting journey. A Family Advocate’s role is to ‘walk through life’ with the foster family. The Family Advocate will also provide in-home coaching and mentoring for the foster families on a regular basis. Our Family Advocates are excited to serve and walk through all the fun times as well as the challenges.”
“I have seen numerous families’ faith be restored in the foster care system,” says Karcie Wyatt-Clark, one of our Family Advocates. “Many of our families felt called to open their hearts and homes to children in need at previous times. After finding a lack of support or help elsewhere, they came to Coyote Hill Foster Care Ministries. These families now feel heard and appreciated because of our amazing staff that literally built this program from the ground up. We, as a team, have been blessed with amazing couples and individuals that are now licensed as Coyote Hill Foster Care Ministries Foster Parents. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for children and families in Boone and its surrounding counties.”
