away from their home, school, and friends.
Rural families who are interested in fostering also must
overcome challenges. Generally, the families are responsible
for getting children to and from specialist appointments. Since
many children in the system require mental health care, and
since mental health professionals are few and far between in
rural areas, that often means lengthy drives to appointments.
A community of fostering
W
hen rural kids are placed with rural foster families, they
don’t have to give up the benefits that come with growing
up on a farm. At the Drumm Farm Center for Children in the
heart of Kansas City, Missouri, urban kids in the system are
able to reap those same rewards.
For 100 years, Drumm Farm has been helping children
build successful lives. The center was established in 1919 by
businessman Major Andrew Drumm and originally served
as a home and working farm for orphaned and impoverished
boys. A statue of Drumm on campus features this quote from
him: “A rough life, if you can stand up under it and keep it
from making your character rough, gives you a constitution
that will last a lifetime.”
In the 1980s, Drumm Farm transitioned from an orphan-
age to a foster care group home. Kids lived in a house with
foster parents who stayed several days at a time, alternating
with other adults. While the children benefitted from living at
Drumm, the inconsistency of group home adults wasn’t ideal.
A few decades later, Brad Smith was hired by Drumm
Farm to do consulting and training for the board of directors.
He had been a child abuse investigator for the state of Missouri
and a school administrator. Smith was hired as executive direc-
tor in 2011 and set to work reshaping Drumm.
“We came up with a model that’s taking off throughout the
country,” Smith says. “It’s about kids being part of a family set-
ting in the truest sense. We got away from the group home and
residential care model because the outcomes aren’t great over
the long term. Kids in these facilities are less likely to graduate
from high school and more likely to be homeless.”
Eight single-family homes make up a neighborhood of fos-
ter families on the Drumm campus. The parents live with the
children full time, and the houses allow large sibling groups to
stay together. “On Thanksgiving and Christmas, rather than
the community becoming a ghost town, the parents invite
extended families to come to their houses to celebrate,” Smith
says. “That’s how we know we’re now a community of foster-
ing rather than a group home.”
Smith says kids do best in a family-like setting. “It helps
them heal and gives them a clear vision of what parenting
looks like and what a family setting looks like,” he says.
Unfortunately, Smith says, there are not enough foster
homes in urban and rural areas to meet the need. “States are
trying to move kids from group homes into foster care, but
there aren’t enough homes available,” he says. “If group homes
aren’t the answer, how do you provide enough foster homes?
One way is to create these neighborhoods. I think models like
Drumm Farm are where the system will need to go.”
64 Successful Farming at Agriculture.com |August 2019
Drumm Farm also features apartments for young people
over 18 who have aged out of the foster care system and pro-
vides an outreach program for homeless youth in Kansas City.Farm in the cityS
ince its inception, the professionals at the Drumm Center
have used the on-site farm to teach children important life
skills and provide them with a connection to nature. When
Smith took over the reins, however, the farm needed work.
“We had a few chickens and some crops, but we decided as
a board and staff to really put energy into the farm,” he says.
“There are therapeutic benefits to caring for animals, planting
and seeing things grow, and creating fencing and trails.”
Today, the farm has 4½ acres of fields, two greenhouses,
a year-round high tunnel, 100 sheep and goats, and 20 hogs.
“The farm offers an education because it provides experiences
that many urban kids don’t otherwise receive,” Smith says.
“They’re learning to work.”
Kids on the farm are paid for working part time during the
summer doing age-appropriate chores. Some older kids work
full time in the summer and part time while going to junior
college. “They show up on time, take breaks, take instruction,
and learn responsibility,” Smith says.
Youth can also work at Drumm’s farmers market, held on
Saturdays. It features fruits, vegetables, flowers, baked goods,
and meat from the farm’s livestock. “The kids learn to work
the cash register and develop customer service abilities and all
the basic skills you’d want anyone to have in a work environ-
ment,” Smith says. “Giving them this skill set will give them
every opportunity to succeed in their lives.”
Besides the farm, Drumm offers its resident children
personalized educational support from certified teachers and
counseling services. “Our kids come here having experienced
significant trauma in their lives,” Smith says. “At its core,
Drumm Farm is a place of healing.”Learn more
Drumm Farm | 816/373-3434 | drummforkids.org
National Foster Parent Assoc. | 800/557-5238 | nfpaonline.orgThe kids at Drumm Farm care for these and other animals, which
teaches them responsibility and offers lessons in life and business.f a m i l y Continued