Adoption
Foster Care
Residential

Adoption Services

The Smoky Mountain Children’s Home (SMCH) Adoption Program is operated through the Foster Care Department. The primary philosophy is that every child deserves permanency within a family, and it is our goal to make this an option for as many children as possible. Once a child is in custody of the State of Tennessee, the SMCH Adoption Support Coordinator and team members, along with the Department of Children’s Services (DCS) team members work together to form a selection committee to identify an appropriate family/placement for these children. SMCH can assist with state and private adoptions and many of our DCS children qualify for financial assistance through the adoption subsidy program.

The Adoption Team

If you are interested in becoming an adoptive parent or to request more information on the adoption process, please contact our Adoption Support Coordinator Melody Jones at adoptions@smch.org.

Melody Jones

Adoption Support Coordinator

Foster Care

The Smoky Mountain Children’s Home (SMCH) Foster Care Department is dedicated to achieving excellence and using our knowledge and resources to advocate, enrich, and empower the lives of children and families living out our call to minister the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Beverly Beard

Foster Care Director

Foster Parents

With over 7,000 youth in Foster Care in the state of Tennessee, the need for Foster Homes continues to grow daily. While our Foster Care Department continues to show consistent growth and expansion, with over 100 Foster Homes, we are always in need of more Foster Homes.

In order to become an approved Tennessee Foster Parent, you will need to successfully complete the TN-KEY (Knowledge Empowers You) curriculum. Foster Parents are required to successfully participate in annual continuing education courses.

For more information about becoming a foster parent, contact our Foster Care Recruitment Coordinator at foster@smch.org or use the Become a Foster Parent form below.

The Smoky Mountain Children’s Home (SMCH) residential campus continues to meet the challenge of at-risk children and youth with an evidenced based best practice treatment model, staff training, case management and emphasis on treatment teams. SMCH is ever evolving to meet a wide array of needs in our Level II residential program. This is in conjunction with privately placed children and youth, which is still a significant part of our residential program (see below). Primary funding is through our Department of Children’s Services (DCS) Level II continuum contracts, Church of God congregations and private resources.

Dr. Marvin Amos

Residential Director
& Liaison to Alpha School

Caregivers

Caregivers consist of direct care staff, assessment caregivers, caregiver specialists and the night staff team who work collectively to provide 24/7 supervision, daily interventions, education and re-direction, behavior modification and mentor sessions. Caregivers have an assigned supervisor for each cottage and are also supervised by a Campus Lead, Night Staff Supervisor or Caregiver Specialists.

The priority statement of this group is to provide a healing atmosphere through trauma-informed care creating a lasting positive impact on the youth’s physical, emotional, cognitive, social and spiritual person with healthy relationships and positive reinforcement.

Case Management

The case management team consists of Bachelor and Master’s level case managers (CM). We have three case management positions known as CM, CMII, and Masters Level Case Manager (CMIII) serving campus. The case manager is supervised by a Team Leader. 

The priority statement of the case management team is to coordinate trauma informed services that respond effectively with evidence based practices to the youth’s treatment needs, priorities reunification with the youth’s family or permanency through adoption/kinship placements, and case management/youth clinical sessions to direct the youth toward positive behavioral change.

Leadership and Management Team

The leadership and management team consists of the Residential Director (RD), Team Leader (TL), Campus Lead (CL) Team, and Case Manager Specialist. This Team approaches their role from a servant leader perspective with concepts from transformational and team based leadership theory. The Residential Director sponsors ongoing team meetings among this group to facilitate collaborative efforts to organize trauma informed and evidence based service to respond to the youth’s needs. The Residential Director responds directly to the Executive Director and Clinical Director.

The priority statement of this team is to work collaboratively as a supervisory team to lead team members into a successful trauma informed and evidence based service philosophy by managing performance through compliance and program measurement and supporting their work through relationship and partnership.

Alpha School

The Alpha team includes the School Principal, Teachers, and Teacher Assistants, and support for behavioral management from the Campus Lead Team. The Residential Director serves as the Liaison to Alpha. The school approaches education for at-risk-youth from a trauma informed perspective and work with each student’s strengths to allow them to complete course work at their specific pace. Alpha monitors student performance, provides positive incentives to motivate progress and supports students who are working on the HiSET program. One of the new additions to the program is the student intervention program.

The priority statement of this team is to create a safe learning environment for students through evidence based and trauma informed classroom management techniques and academic intervention programs. The goal is to help students achieve academic success and regain confidence in their ability for achievement in the future.

Need Private Placement?

The mission of Smoky Mountain Children’s Home (SMCH) is to provide residential care for dependent, neglected and other at-risk children and youth. Our goal is to provide hope and healing for children and their families by helping them cope with the ever-increasing pressures of our society, to help children express their concerns in constructive ways, to work toward reunification of the family and to provide foster care and adoption services when needed.
 
Referrals for services are accepted from a wide variety of sources including parents and relatives, pastors, public and private agencies and juvenile courts.
 
No person is, on the grounds of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, excluded from participation in, or otherwise denied the benefits of, or otherwise subjected to discrimination in any program or activity of SMCH. Fees for the private placement service are based on a sliding scale, but no child is denied placement or services based solely on an inability to pay.
 
Services provided for the private placement program include the following:
  • Residential group care is provided by well trained Christian childcare workers in modern cottage-type dwellings.
  • Counseling and assessments are provided for children and families by competent professional clinical workers and counselors.
  • Supervised recreational and leisure time activities are available.
  • Level II residential services and intensive day treatment is provided for at-risk youth.
  • Full-time Crisis Intervention and Prevention Team and respite care are provided by agency staff.
  • On-campus classroom is provided for youth needing more intensive instruction for credit recovery, GED and general education.
If you have an interest in finding out more information about our private placement program, contact Linda Loyd at lloyd@smch.org or please submit your request by clicking on the Private Placement Form button below.
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