Missouri’s Community Based Foster Care Case Management

Community based organizations provided case management services for 4,593 Missouri children in foster care in 2021. Our goal is that children thrive in permanent, safe and loving families. The following describes how we are moving toward these goals.

Permanency

1,331, or 29% of the children we served, reached permanency. Permanency describes when children leave foster care and are either reunified with their family, adopted, or enter guardianship.

Children who were reunified with their families spent an average slightly more than one year in foster care (12.15 months) prior to family reunification.

Children who were adopted were in foster care an average of 25 months prior to adoption.

Children who entered guardianship were in foster care for an average of 20 months prior to

Support

While children are in out of home foster care, our goal is to make sure that whenever safe and possible, they can be with relatives or kin. 

Relative/Kin

2,474

54%

Safety

Safety is paramount. 99.8% of the children served by community-based case management had no substantiated cases of abuse or neglect during this reporting period.

Stability and Success

Supporting and preparing for successful permanency is an integral aspect of community-based foster care case management. 96.3% of the children who were reunified with their families, adopted, or who entered guardianship maintained permanency and did not re-enter foster care.