When we think back to the days of our youth, we probably recall happy memories growing up within a caring family, playing with our favorite toys, and going on fun adventures with our best friends. Of course, no family is perfect, but most of us are truly fortunate to have the childhood that we had. Sadly, many local children can’t say the same. Several are still in need of a loving forever home and are waiting patiently for that happy day to come. Fortunately, this month’s Success Story spotlight, Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition, helps change these children’s lives by giving them a place to call home!
Founded in 1989, Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition (FACC) is a non-profit agency that works to create permanency in foster children’s lives by recruiting and supporting foster and adoptive families in the Greater St. Louis region. They accomplish their mission in a few crucial ways:
Their Awesome Recruitment Programs
FACC has 4 different programs to help area children find their forever families, including Extreme Recruitment, 30 Days to Family, A Place to Call Home, and the Jones Foundation Family Program. These series help train, support, and prepare caring and dedicated area families for foster care and adoption. One particular parent, who adopted 10 children through FACC’s Extreme Recruit Program, said, “You have to think of these kids as diamonds in the rough; they don’t come shiny and perfect. We rely on patience, prayer, and each other. We also like to think that you can’t make kids fit inside a box – we meet them where they are. Focus on their strengths. Let them find out what they’re good at – they’re often good at so much!”
Helpful Support Services to Help Parents
Fostering and adopting children isn’t an easy task. It takes a lot of hard work and commitment from the parents to make it happen. FACC has numerous support services to help these parents maintain their foster/adopt status, including Educational Advocacy, Parent Training, Little Wishes, Birthday Buddies, and more. FACC is proud to report that 98% of the families they serve maintain their status, and 88% of children in crisis remain in their homes!
Crucial Training for Changing Child Welfare
In order to become a licensed foster parent, 30 hours of in-service training per every 2 years is required. FACC provides foster and adoptive parents with thousands of hours of training each year – for free! These trainings include connecting with other parents to share resources, learning how a child’s past experiences can influence their behavior, exploring ways to enhance their strengths as a parent, sharing and learning new skills to influence a child’s behaviors and attitudes, and discovering ways to reduce the stress of parenting.
WIN Warehouse is proud to have lent a helping hand to this non-profit! Since becoming members in February 2018, FACC has received numerous essentials from us, including smoke detectors and fire extinguishers to help prepare foster homes. They were also one of the first organizations to pick up a case of each of our children’s books. In fact, other organizations have picked up toys from us and donated them to FACC! This year, the Coalition has saved nearly $38,000, which has gone back into programs to help their families!
Interested in learning more? Want to grant a little holiday wish to a child in need? Call FACC at (314) 367-8373 or visit them online at www.foster-adopt.org. If you’re a non-profit organization and are curious about how you can benefit from WIN’s help, contact us at (314) 385-3006!