First of all, what is 30 Days to Family®? 30 Days to Family® is an intense, short-term invention developed by the Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition to increase the number of children placed with relatives when they enter the foster care system and ensure natural and community supports are in place to promote stability for the child.

The program model features two major elements; family finding and family support interventions.

CMFCAA 30 Days to Family Supervisor, Tamara Fish, says she is honored to be working in the program. “My family values the blessing of Foster Care and adoption. It is our family culture to foster and adopt. My father was adopted. I was adopted and my husband and I have adopted. It doesn’t stop there in our family! Both of my sisters have been foster and adoptive parents as well…”

CMFCAA Regional Training Center

The CMFCAA Regional Training Center is now officially open for business on the entire second level of our Osage Beach office! On April 22nd, we had a wonderful turnout for our grand opening "Ribbon Tying" event.
Thank you to all who attended our event and surrounded us with support!
The Regional Training Center is a resource for the Central Missouri community. It is outfitted with advanced technology, a full kitchen, bathrooms, and a large printing room with a scanner, printer and copier. We want to make it easy for you to hold meetings and events at our space without loading the office with you!

CMFCAA Regional Training Center

4821 Osage Beach Parkway

CMFCAA was able to serve and support the community this month by sponsoring a Chic-fil-A catered lunch and spreading awareness at the Hope for the Journey Conference! The conference was held at the beautiful Forum Christian Church in Columbia, MO. AmeriCorps VISTAs, Meghan and Lauren, picked up and delivered 80 boxed Chick-fil-A lunches to the event and conversed with the attendees at the conference. There are always new ways to serve the community when you're an AmeriCorps VISTA! 

CMFCAA was overwhelmed once again by the support of our local community. The combination of generosity and openness is what allows us to continue serving foster, adoptive, and kinship children and families.

This month, CMFCAA was able to go to Harper Chapel Church in Osage Beach and pick up a large donation for the CCYP program! They donated tons of household items and hygiene products. They also presented our CCYP Supervisor, David, with a $75 check towards pots and pans for our youth. Harper Chapel also donated swimsuits, towels, & swim trunks to Direct Services for the Odyssey coming up at Jolly Mon. There were even some clothing items for BAB. All of this was because of our Board Member Jeanne Gordon who had DeAnna and a few of us come speak there on St. Patrick’s Day! Thank you, Harper Chapel!!

Backpacks, Care Packs, and Odyssey Events! Oh My!

CMFCAA's Direct Services program has been extremely busy this month as in-person respite events are slowly coming back into full swing! While we continue to serve foster, adoptive, and kinship families by providing resources and giving away Begin Again Backpacks and Care Packs, we are also working hard to get fun educational events scheduled so foster parents and caregivers can get a break and kids can play and learn. Keep reading to see how this month's respite events were a huge success! Here are a few photos of kids having fun at our Odyssey Respite Event at Capital City Cheer!

April 4-H SPIN Clubs: Foods Around the World

A Desperate Grandmother Calls Kinship Navigator as a Last Resort

The Kinship Navigator received a call from a grandmother who had become the primary caregiver of her 8-year-old grandson. She shared that her grandson was on the Autism Spectrum and had been diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder. He had been able to receive care from a daycare provider after school, but she had become ill and was no longer able to care for him. The grandmother had a job that prevented her from being able to watch her grandson after school. She was required to work this job to keep her grandson in her care.

This grandmother was concerned that she would lose her job and her grandson if she missed work over the daycare issue so she desperately contacted Kinship Navigator for assistance. KN called all of the daycares in her area who would take the Child Care Subsidy payment and finally found one that would and that had workers with experience caring for children on the Autism Spectrum. KN assisted the grandmother by signing her grandson up for daycare and arranged for him to start right away. She was very grateful for the quick response to her need!

Our Kinship Navigators were contacted by a family caring for their 8 grandchildren! This family needed dressers for the kid’s clothes and belongings. KN was able to round these up for the family quickly and efficiently. Meanwhile, the grandmother had recently undergone surgery and was in desperate need of an in-home aid to help with the children and housekeeping. KN was able to refer her to Health and Senior Services who provided a Home Health Aide to assist her as she continues raising her eight grandchildren.

"Through the efforts of what seemed to be our entire organization, we were able to provide a family in Barry County with a mattress and bed frame for a Kinship youth. Despite being outside of our normal service area, and after attempting to partner with other similar agencies in that area, CMFCAA and the Kinship Navigator team made sure that the family had the resources they needed and were prepared for the youth to enter their home."

To see past Family Focus newsletters and find out more about what kind of events we organize, click the link below.

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