The Childrens Home Society Of Missouri

Programs: We provide short and long term residential services for non-ambulatory children ages 0-21 with significant medical needs. Our center based care provides each child with an individualized, comprehensive habilitation program to maximize his or her physical, emotional and educational growth. We offer 24 hour nursing and support staff as well as a medical advisor (pediatrician). Referrals for therapies or nutrition consultation are made as needed. Our program provides case management, assessment and support planning, advocacy, medication administration, nutritional meals and snacks, transportation and recreational activities. Additionally, the agency provides center based respite services to non-ambulatory children who are living with their families. Providing 24-hour care to a child is a stressor on the whole family system and can result in increased risk for abuse and/or neglect. Respite care provides a relief for families to allow them to rest and recharge.

family support services provide essential parenting education and assistance with the primary goal of promoting the optimal child development that comes from growing up in a happy, healthy family environment. Services include home-based counseling and case management, school consultation and advocacy, pregnancy support, adoption services, and support groups for children and parents. Using the pillars of nurturing parenting, an evidenced-based support system, chsmo encourages families in the strengthening of their relationships, resilience, and social connections to reduce the risk of child maltreatment and improve the quality of their lives.

our community mental health services provide developmentally respectful trauma informed care for families in the greater st. Louis area. Our primary focus is families who have experienced a disruption in attachment with a special emphasis on the foster care and adoption population. We provide individual, family and group therapy with special attention paid to developmental needs and trauma symptoms. Our therapists practice from a variety of disciplines including play therapy, tf-cbt, sensory-movement and psychodynamic psychotherapies. We also provide psychological evaluations which focus on a holistic and complex understanding of a child's cognitive and personality traits. Through the evaluation process our psychologists are able to provide parents and caregivers a deeper understanding of their child's internal world and develop treatment recommendations.

education and training provides a wide range of trainings geared toward foster and adoptive parents and any professional that works with at-risk children and families. Trainings are developed with an understanding that children that are served within the foster care system and adoption community have experienced some form of trauma that will have a life-long impact on a child's social, intellectual, behavioral and emotional development. Parents and other adults who work with these children can be a catalyst for healing for the traumatized child when they are knowledgeable and trauma-informed within the context of a nurturing relationship.