Missouri Alliance’s Specialized Care Management program supports youth with complex behavioral and emotional needs who are at risk of long-term residential care or repeated placement disruptions. These young people often come from challenging family backgrounds, have experienced significant trauma, and struggle to maintain stability in relationships, education, and treatment.
Our team works closely with each youth to rebuild family connections, understand their trauma, and coordinate services that support healing and long-term success. Using a trauma-informed approach, including Trust-Based Relational Intervention® (TBRI®), we help caregivers and professionals respond to behaviors with empathy and consistency.
We also prioritize education, advocating for youth with special needs and celebrating major milestones like high school graduation. Through individualized care, we aim to change the trajectory for youth in care—helping them build resilience, identify their strengths, and know they are not alone.
Specialized Care Management
Supporting youth with complex behavioral
and emotional needs.
My name is Shane, and I was in foster care for 12 years.
My biological father wasn’t consistently present in my life due to being in and out of prison. I endured multiple types of childhood abuse and neglect by both parents before being removed from our home and placed in foster care. However, the abuse didn’t end. I was told I was a bad kid, that I didn’t deserve a family and was called homophobic slurs. One of the most memorable incidents led to me being kicked out of the foster home during a snow storm.
I didn’t know how to talk to people, much less trust them. There were violent outbursts, as well as attempts to harm myself and to harm others because I didn’t know how to voice my emotions and wasn’t willing to work on the issues behind my behavior. This led to countless moves between foster homes, residential treatment facilities and hospitals.
Through Missouri Alliance for Children and Families, I eventually received therapy and became connected with a care team who earned my trust by consistently showing up every week and following through on promises. I was able to let them behind my walls because they refused to give up on me.
I’m now better able to cope with my trauma. I got married and am working on my GED. I also work for MACF as a peer mentor, helping youth who were in the same position I was once in. I hope to one day go to college and study social work.
All in all, I’d say everything turned out pretty great for me.
Shane's Story
Only 50% of kids in care who
age out of the system will
have a job by the age of 24.
Social Work Today