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Jessica Dutton
Jessica Dutton works to help educate and inform possible foster parents for TFI Family Services in Pittsburg. The agency will host a new series of PSP-MAPP classes for those interested in becoming foster parents. Classes start March 6th, 6pm-9pm at 3101 N. Michigan, Pittsburg and will run for 10 weeks, once a week. For more information on becoming a foster or adoptive parent, please contact TFI Family Services, Inc. Toll Free 1-800-279-9914 or visit us online at www.tfifamilyservices.org.
Community Events
2012-03-26 16:54:08
Foster care then and now
Q: How has foster care evolved over time?
A: I will answer this question as unbiased as possible, but from the perspectives of what I know, through our own company (TFI Family Services) and how it has shaped over time... 1960’s The Farm, Inc. began in 1965 as a summer camp ran by Maxine Johnson and her family on a farm near Admire, Kansas. After several years of successfully running the summer camp, the Lyon County juvenile judge and county welfare director approached the Johnsons, asking if they would consider taking children all year long. The Farm’s story was only beginning. 1960 through 1970’s During our first years, The Farm specialized in long term residential care with the capacity to care for 24 children at a time and often keeping brothers and sisters together. The girls lived in a big re-modeled farm house and the boys in a ranch style lodge. The children learned to fish, swim, camp, and to appreciate all the aspects of living on a farm while attending public school and a local church. The Johnsons encouraged the children to be active in their school and community. In school, they participated in sports, cheerleading, plays, band, and as class leaders. They were also involved in 4-H and state fairs. As a family they took canoe trips, vacations, and celebrated graduations. Support for The Farm came from the local Jaycee and Elks’ organizations. 1980’s This was the decade of change for The Farm. Child welfare began moving more toward permanency for children in smaller, family-like settings and adoption was being explored as a case plan goal for children. Residential stays were seen only as a short-term alternative care. In 1985, the founding mother of The Farm, Maxine Johnson, passed away. After 20 years of caring for the children, Maxine’s husband and sister retired and Peggy S. Martin, LMSW became the second Executive Director in The Farm, Inc.’s history. In the late 1980’s, the agency moved from its rural location to a facility called J- Max in Emporia, Kansas, which had formerly been a group home for United Methodist Youthville. The Farm used the Boy’s Town Achievement Place program model. A year later, The Farm opened an emergency shelter in Emporia for boys and girls called the Oakes House. 1990’s Another decade of significant change. The Farm saw children completing its program model at J-Max with nowhere to go and children having long stays in its emergency shelter. SRS was now allowing child welfare agencies the ability to sponsor foster families. In response, The Farm started up its own family foster care program, and in doing so, developed a model that broke all the old rules. The Farm assigned a social worker 24/7 to the foster family. There were foster care training retreats, monthly support meetings, and monthly newsletters. With the popularity of this model, The Farm‘s sponsorships exploded throughout Kansas, fostering office expansions in southeast, south central, northeast, and southwest Kansas. In 1996, Kansas became the first State in the Union to privatize its foster care/reintegration, adoption, and family preservation services. The Farm became one of the largest state wide subcontractors for a variety of family foster care homes and adoption services. It was also at this time, The Farm made the painful decision to end its residential services in order to put its time and resources in the development of its family foster care program. 2000’s As we embark into the 21st century we entered into an era of privatization with a contractual relationship with the State of Kansas to provide an array of case management services to achieve permanency in a life of a child through family preservation, family reintegration, and adoption. We maintained our accredited programs through the National Council on Accreditation (COA) for Adoption, Foster Care Services, Kinship Services, Case Management, Family Preservation Services, Counseling, Support and Education, and Services for Substance Related Disorders. We continued to develop new programs to meet the needs of Kansas children and families through our Douglas County Visitation and Exchange program and achieving Hague Accreditation through COA for an International Adoption program. All the while, we have lead the state in the sponsorship of family foster care homes. As we evolved into a statewide organization in order to develop programs to better serve Kansas families and children, we realized we were no longer that small rural agency in Northern Lyon called The Farm, Inc., but that we had grown into TFI Family Services, Inc.
 
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