Pre-service and continuing education rules for licensed foster, resource and kinship caregivers, compiled from state administrative code and agency policy.
Verified as of 5 September 2026 Next review due 1 December 2026
Missouri
Sources conflict — verify
Pre-service
The rule sets no number; the current manual sets MO C.A.R.E. at 26 hours across ten sessions, plus 6 hours of CPR and first aid. Within 90 days of licensure: reasonable and prudent parenting 2 hours, Foster Care Bill of Rights 1 hour, second hand smoke 2 hours.
Ongoing continuing education
30 hours per two-year licensure period; Level B providers 32 hours; treatment foster care adds 5 hours annually and Level 2 treatment another 5. One hour of required annual in-service on a specified psychotropic medication training developed for that calendar year. CPR and first aid maintained at least every two years, including an in-person hands-on skills assessment by a certified instructor.
Renewal term
2 years, with relative homes reassessed on the same cycle.
Kinship difference
The most substantive carve-out in the set — relatives may forgo the completion of all 30 hours of non-required in-service training and remain licensed, and separate waiver authority permits case-by-case waivers of non-safety standards expressly including the in-service requirement. Relative treatment foster care caregivers get 90 days for 9 hours of pre-service relative training and six months for the balance.
Conflict notes
CONFLICT, and this is the weakest data point on the page: Missouri replaced STARS with MO C.A.R.E. and the transition is incomplete in its own materials. The pre-service manual effective 28 May 2024 says 26 hours; the still-live STARS-era manual subsection says 27; the relative renewal subsection also says 27; and current regulation text hard-codes 27 hours.