Missouri Foster Care Training: STARS Is Over — What MO C.A.R.E. Requires in 2026

Families who began the Missouri foster care process under the old STARS (Specialized Training for Adoptive and Resource families) curriculum and have not yet finalized are now navigating a transition they were not fully prepared for: STARS is being phased out in favor of MO C.A.R.E. — Missouri's new mandatory caregiver and adoption training program.

If you completed STARS training or are partway through it, you need to know where you stand under the new requirements and whether you need additional hours before your license can be issued or renewed.

What Changed and Why

Missouri's Children's Division has replaced STARS with MO C.A.R.E. (Missouri Caregiver and Adoption Readiness Education) as the primary pre-licensure training for all foster and adoptive families statewide. The transition reflects a broader shift toward trauma-informed care, updated research on attachment, and a more consistent statewide curriculum across rural and urban circuits.

STARS was the standard for many years and many families began it in good faith. The transition was not instant — P4C agencies and CD offices are working through how to handle families at various stages of completion.

MO C.A.R.E.: The Basic Requirements

MO C.A.R.E. consists of approximately 30 hours of mandatory training. Topics include:

• Trauma-informed parenting and its application to children in foster care
• Attachment theory and how it applies to children who have experienced neglect or abuse
• Behavior management approaches consistent with child welfare best practices
• Placement stability and the family's role in supporting transitions
• Working with birth families, including visits and communication
• Understanding the child welfare system and your role within it

Training is delivered through a combination of in-person sessions (facilitated by your P4C agency or CD office), online modules, and sometimes hybrid formats depending on your circuit. Rural families in areas without a P4C agency typically access training through the Children's Division directly.

The Spaulding Addendum: Required for Adoption

For families pursuing adoption — not just foster care — Missouri requires completion of the Spaulding curriculum in addition to MO C.A.R.E. The Spaulding addendum runs approximately 7 to 12 hours and covers topics specific to adoption:

• Understanding the adoptive parent role vs. the foster parent role
• Addressing grief and loss in children placed for adoption
• Talking with children about their adoption story and history
• Long-term permanency considerations and post-adoption support resources

The Spaulding curriculum is an addition, not a replacement for part of MO C.A.R.E. If you plan to be licensed both as a foster parent and as a prospective adoptive parent, you need all 30 MO C.A.R.E. hours plus the Spaulding addendum.

What Happens If You Started STARS

If you completed some or all of your STARS training before the transition:

Fully completed STARS: Contact your CD worker or P4C agency to determine whether your completed STARS hours are being credited toward MO C.A.R.E. requirements or whether bridging modules are required. This varies by circuit and agency, and you should get the answer in writing.

Partially completed STARS: You will likely need to complete the remaining hours under the MO C.A.R.E. framework. Some agencies are accepting completed STARS modules as equivalent to specific MO C.A.R.E. sessions; others are requiring a full restart. Again, the answer depends on your specific agency and circuit, and is not uniform statewide.

Just beginning: Start MO C.A.R.E. from the beginning. There is no practical reason to begin STARS at this point, as it is not the current requirement.

Licensing Requirements Beyond Training

Training is one component of the full licensing package. Missouri's foster care and adoptive parent licensing requirements also include:

• Background checks for all household members (FBI fingerprinting, MSHP, CANREG, Family Care Safety Registry)
• A completed home study meeting the standards of 13 CSR 35-60.040
• A medical report (Form CS-50) for all household members
• Physical home inspection confirming safety requirements (fire safety, secure storage of hazardous materials and firearms, proper sleeping arrangements)

The home study and training requirements work together — you typically need to be in the training process before a home study can be completed, and the home study must be complete before a child can be placed.

How Training Requirements Affect the Adoption Timeline

For families in the foster-to-adopt track, the training requirement has a practical timeline implication. MO C.A.R.E. plus Spaulding represents 37 to 42 hours of required content before your license can be issued. Depending on session scheduling in your area, this can take two to four months.

If there is a specific child you have been matched with informally — a relative placement, for example — confirm with your CD worker whether an emergency placement can occur before training completion. Missouri allows emergency relative placements in some circumstances, with training required to continue during the placement period.

Where to Register

Training is administered through your local P4C agency (if you are in a metropolitan circuit) or your Children's Division regional office. Contact the CD office in your county to get the current training schedule and registration process for MO C.A.R.E.

Major P4C agencies with training programs:

• FosterAdopt Connect (Kansas City and surrounding circuits)
• KVC Missouri (Kansas City area)
• Every Child's Hope (St. Louis area)
• Coyote Hill Christian Children's Home (Mid-Missouri)

Online components of MO C.A.R.E. may be available through the CD's online training portal — ask your worker whether online completion is an option for any portion of the curriculum in your circuit.

Navigating the STARS-to-MO C.A.R.E. transition is one of the more confusing aspects of the current Missouri system, particularly because the answer differs by circuit and agency. The Missouri Adoption Process Guide includes a full training checklist — what is required, in what sequence, and how to confirm your current credit status if you have prior STARS hours — so you know exactly where you stand before your home study begins.

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