This winter ARCHS issued $5.8 million to Foster Care and Adoptive Care Coalition (FACC) that will support expanded and enhanced foster care services throughout the region. This is a $5 million increase from last year’s grant award.

ARCHS secured the expanded funding from the Missouri Department of Social Services. The State of Missouri made this historic investment on behalf of children in foster care when Governor Mike Parson signed the social services portion of the FY 2022 budget on July 1, 2021.

New and expanded services provided by FACC will include targeted recruitment of African American foster parents to address racial disparities in St. Louis City and County; recruitment and training of specialized homes for children with profound trauma; and geographic service area expansion in Franklin, Warren, and Lincoln counties.

In St. Louis City and County, 70% of children in local foster care are African American, yet only 13% of foster parents are African American. As a result, local African American children are routinely placed in Caucasian homes.

FACC will use the RESPOND model developed by St. Louis African American foster parents in the 1990s that provides a roadmap to ensuring African American children are placed in foster homes that reflect their ethnicity, race, and culture.

FACC is recognized nationally as a driver of innovative programming to address the needs of children in foster care. They are best known for creating Extreme Recruitment® and 30 Days to Family®, programs so effective that they are replicated by other non-profits across the country. Philanthropic support from individuals, corporations and foundations allows FACC to currently serve 1,248 children annually. At any given moment, there are 4,500 children in foster care in the metro region.