The families who step up to care for the children in Montana’s foster care system are gaining new opportunities for training, support and community connection at no cost to them. The statewide nonprofit organization, Child Bridge, has expanded its services to include new programs aimed at preparing foster and adoptive families from the very beginning of the journey.

On mission to equip families for the task of helping vulnerable children heal from trauma, Child Bridge now offers a comprehensive list of services to help prepare and train parents at every step of the process.

This list now includes Info Meetings, a critical new first step prospective foster/adoptive families can take to simply learn about the need and purpose of foster care. Info Meetings are a virtual, commitment-free opportunity for anyone curious about fostering to get their questions answered by a foster care expert before ever getting licensed.

Kyle and Kaytee Green, a young couple from Billings, attended an Info Meeting as a way to learn how foster care might fit into or change their lives.

“It gave us a lot of insight into what fostering is really like and what all we might experience,” Kaytee said. “I think we both walked away from the Info Meeting more assured that this was what the Lord wanted us to do.”

As more of a “numbers guy,” Kyle said the thing that most stuck with him from the meeting were the statistics citing how many children are typically left waiting for family in our state. Around 2,500 children currently crowd Montana’s foster care system, but the number of licensed foster families available to care for them totals only half that number, according to the 2022 Child Welfare Outcomes Report.

“It definitely got me curious once I saw how big the need was in Montana, and knowing this resource was here was really encouraging,” Kyle said.

Shortly after the Info Meeting, the Greens took the next step of getting licensed through the Department of Health and Human Services. The process took about two and a half months, but they quickly realized just how needed they were when they got their first call the same day they completed the final step. Their first foster placement, a little boy, remained with them for six weeks before reunifying with his biological family.

As they navigated the many emotions that came with saying goodbye to their first child, they leaned again on Child Bridge for guidance and support.

“Having Child Bridge as a resource was absolutely invaluable. It gave us a lot of comfort knowing we wouldn’t be doing this by ourselves,” Kaytee said.

During the reunification process, a Child Bridge recruiting specialist invited the couple to the Foundations in Foster Care course — a 4-week virtual “crash course” to help new or soon-to-be foster parents learn the ins and outs of foster care.

“The first time you do this, everything is unknown. You have no idea what you’re doing,” Kaytee said. “It was so comforting to have other families in that class to talk with and bounce thoughts off of. And they were all in the same place of being new to this. I didn’t feel alone.”

While both the Info Meetings and Foundations in Foster Care course help introduce new foster parents to the mission, long-term foster and adoptive parents like Michael and Jolene Sarsfield rely on Child Bridge’s other ongoing trainings and services to help them stay the course.

Jolene Sarsfield started fostering over 16 years, and together with her husband, Michael, has fostered 11 children, seven of whom have joined their family permanently. They started attending Foster Connects, monthly trainings hosted by Child Bridge staff in numerous regions across the state, just six years ago.

“It really is life changing. I truly wish I had had some of this knowledge before I started fostering because it would have saved a lot of heartache,” Sarsfield said. “I love being able to talk to staff and other families. These are people who understand and aren’t scared. You can tell them anything, and they’ll help you figure it out.”

In addition to teaching trauma-informed care, Child Bridge trainings also offer a unique opportunity for foster and adoptive families to connect with other parents who understand them. Foster Connects also provide free childcare and hot meals as well, so the kids also get to interact with peers with similar stories and backgrounds.

“These kids can feel kind of isolated at school and that gets lonely. At these meetings, they meet and play with kids like them. Our kids get so excited to go,” Sarsfield said.

Journey Groups, a more intimate weekly gathering, offers local foster and adoptive parents the chance to meet in a small group setting to work through curriculum and learn from each other’s personal experiences.

Then for individual struggles and challenges, parents can also request one-on-one Parent Coaching. This tailored guidance gives parents access to one-on-one sessions with a Foster Parent Coach who provides practical advice and techniques to try as they navigate specific challenges.

“Child Bridge gave us the education, the training, the tools we needed...they kind of swooped in and saved the day,” said Colette Haun of Billings. After she and her husband, Mark, adopted a 7-year-old girl from foster care, they found themselves struggling to meet her needs and understand her behaviors.

“Suddenly, we were learning about how trauma affects the brain, about neurological pathways and all these things we’d never even heard of before, and it all started to make sense,” Haun said.

Thanks to the generosity of donors across the state and beyond, all of these services are available to foster and adoptive families at no cost to them.  

For more information about foster care or to learn more about Child Bridge, contact Mary Cloud Vander Ark at marketing@childbridgemontana.org.