It depends on where you live. You can call our 1-800 number and we would be happy to discuss with you whether we can train you and manage your license. If we cannot, we can refer you to an agency who can help you.

Missouri Baptist Children’s Home does not specialize in international adoptions and completing international adoption home studies; however, we can refer you to an agency that does.

People often are confused by the variety of ministries MBCH provides and how we currently take care of children. Many people have the misconception that the number of kids we care for is limited to the number of kids in our residential program on one of our campuses. In reality, the residential program is only a very small percentage of the ministries we provide.

In 2019, the following statistics demonstrate the number of clients we served:

• Youth served in Therapeutic Group Homes: 48
• Clients served through Pregnancy Services: 185
• Clients served through Transitional Living Programs: 50
• Clients served through Developmentally Disabled Services: 14
• Clients served through Human Trafficking Rescue: 22
• Youth served in Treatment Family Care: 147
• Youth served in Family Foster Care: 378
• Foster/Adoptive Homes maintained: 199
• Relative/Kinship Homes maintained: 104
• Home Studies conducted: 824
• Children who were placed in “Forever Families”: 185
• Agency-Based Counselling Clients: 59
• Community-Based Counselling Clients: 39

• Be at least 21 years of age
• Complete a child abuse/neglect check and criminal record check
• Be in good health, both physically and mentally
• Have a stable income
• Be willing to participate in and complete a free training and assessment process
• Be part of a professional team willing to voice perspectives and concerns
• Be willing to partner with the child’s family
• For MBCH, we require foster parents to be professing Christians and active members of an evangelical church

Costs are minimal to foster or adopt a child/youth in state custody. There is no cost to be trained and licensed. Relative providers and foster parents receive a modest monthly stipend to assist in providing care and to provide some assistance with clothing. Adoptive parents are eligible to receive an adoption subsidy that can help with legal costs and other costs. Relative, foster, and adoptive parents do need to be able to add a foster child to their household without it being a financial burden to their family.

We currently do not have offices and/or staff available to cover every county in Missouri, although we are working to expand our ministry footprint. Missouri has privatized certain services in some counties so that also can be a limiting factor for us to serve in those areas efficiently and effectively. Through our church engagement initiative, we will be happy to visit with you to see what options might be available for you to receive foster parent training.

According to the 2018 audited figures of the MBCH family of corporations:

• 88% of every dollar goes to “Program Services”
• 9% of every dollar goes to “Management and General”
• 3% of every dollar goes to “Fundraising”

Missouri Baptist Children’s Home was started in the late 1800’s specifically to provide services to orphans – children whose parents had died. Epidemics of the 19th century were faced without the medical advances that were seen in the 20th century, so there were more orphans during that time than there are today. Also, over time it was realized that housing children in facilities was not best practice in many situations. Placing children in normalized living environments like relative homes or foster homes in the community is much more desirable. Research bears out that better outcomes are realized when children are placed with families as opposed to being placed in a residential facility. Having said that, this is not true for all children/youth who need to be placed outside their home; a continuum of services including residential care and community-based care all based on what is best for each child/youth is what Missouri Baptist Children’s Home provides.