What is a Foster Care Ambassador?
In a statewide effort to recruit and retain sincere and dedicated foster parents, Foster Care Ambassadors have valuable insight and/or experience into foster care and are passionate and willing to help recruit, support, and advocate for the cause. They have thorough knowledge of Children’s Division policies as well as the state statutes and are able to answer questions from potential foster parents or interested individuals in the community. Foster Care Ambassadors are available to speak at or host their own recruitment events. Foster Care Ambassadors also serve as mentors to new or struggling foster parents. Foster Care Ambassadors meet virtually monthly to network, share ideas and receive updates from the Children’s Division. They are asked for input into new and upcoming initiatives and attend conferences sharing about the Ambassador program. Ambassadors also work on projects such as designing and creating Welcome Packets for new Foster Parents.
If you're a foster parent and you want to connect with your local ambassador, please visit this page for an interactive map of our existing ambassadors.
How do I become a Foster Parent Ambassador?
Foster Care Ambassadors must be approved by the Children’s Division. If you are interested in becoming a Foster Parent Ambassador, please contact Melissa Selsor at FosterCare@dss.mo.gov.
Recruitment Events
Our Children’s Division teams are committed to helping recruit new foster parents across the state. To help in this mission, we have developed tools and materials for Foster Care Ambassadors to use when hosting recruitment events. If you plan a recruitment event, please notify the Children’s Division of your event by emailing Melissa Selsor at FosterCare@dss.mo.gov.
Organization
The event checklist is meant to help you plan your next recruitment event. It is organized in tasks to complete before and during the event. It also guides you in how to use of the marketing and event materials.
Remember, these are just suggestions to help you. If you are unable to do everything on the checklist because of restrictions or lack of resources, that is ok.
Marketing
The event flyer templates can be customized with your event information. To help get the word out about your event, email the flyer to dss.directorsoffice@dss.mo.gov and ask for a Facebook Event to be created on our DSS page. You can also email or print the flyer and post it in your community.
Materials
Print these materials out and organize them into folders or lay them out on a table for guests as they arrive:
Open your event with the welcome video:
- Welcome Video—Coming Soon!
Use this PowerPoint to present information about becoming a foster parent: