The FosterAdopt Connect program will be hosting a Tall & Small Ball from 5-8 p.m. Saturday at the Westwood Event Center on North Westwood Boulevard.
The evening will include dinner, dancing and a visit from some beloved Disney characters and superheroes.
“There is going to be a dinner. We have characters like Aladdin and superheroes that are coming to interact with the kids. No Quarter Trading Post is going to do fake tattoos for them and Tasteful Creations is catering the event,” said Fostering Prevention Specialist Darien Lovell.
The Foster Adopt Connect program serves 28 counties in Missouri each month with everything from assisting with legal paperwork to clothing and toys.
“We serve up to 300 children a month,” said Lovell. “It’s all donation-based so the community really helps out and they donate. And then we go through it and then talk to adoptive families, and they come in and they shop with us.”
Lovell said her role is to train and license those seeking to be foster home providers so they are able to provide a safe home for children while parents work on reunification.
“We serve youth all the way up to age 26 who are aging out of foster care because a lot of older youth, that’s actually more of the age range where they age out of having a supportive home,” said Lovell. “So what that program does is it helps them with whatever they need help with, housing, electric bills, help them go to job interviews, fill out resumes, get clothing for jobs, set up mental health appointments, health care appointments. We help be a support and provided resources to enable them to be able to do it on their own.”
The program also offers advocacy and training to families which, according to Lovell, “helps anybody who is dealing with the child welfare system, whether that be a birth parent, foster parent or grandparent, to navigate the legal system and advocate for the youth in their home.
“We also have a kinship navigator, that’s a new program. What they do is help anybody who is raising relatives, they help them find resources and support.”
For more information on the program or the Tall & Small Ball visit: www.fosteradopt.org/event/pbtallandsmall2023/ for tickets or find FosterAdopt Connect on Facebook.