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Missouri Children’s Division director Darrell Missey is retiring next month

Darrell Missey, the director of the State of Missouri's Children's Division, on Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023, at St. Louis Public Radio’s headquarters in Grand Center.
Brian Munoz
/
St. Louis Public Radio
Darrell Missey, the director of the State of Missouri's Children's Division, on Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023, at St. Louis Public Radio’s headquarters in Grand Center.

The former Jefferson County judge has served as the leader of the agency investigating child abuse and neglect since 2021. Missey inherited an agency with major staffing issues and a huge backlog of unfinished cases.

Missouri Children’s Division Director Darrell Missey will retire on Nov. 1.

Missey is a former Jefferson County judge who has served as the head of the Children’s Division since 2021. The Children’s Division is responsible for overseeing the state’s child abuse and neglect investigations as well as its foster care system.

Missey spent much of his time during his tenure emphasizing a more preventative approach to child welfare issues, advocating that providing families with connections to social service programs could prevent children from being put in foster care.

Missey inherited an agency with major staffing issues in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Staffing problems prevented a program that sends parents to drug rehabilitation programs while their kids stay with relatives from being rolled out evenly throughout the state.

Staff shortages also resulted in a huge backlog of unfinished cases in St. Louis and St. Louis County — which alarmed state policymakers and child welfare advocates.

Earlier this year, the Children's Division had more than 7,000 cases of alleged abuse and neglect that remained open for more than 45 days. As of Aug. 30, St. Louis’ Children’s Division office had only 14 cases that were overdue — which accomplished Missey’s goal of getting the backlog basically cleared by the summer of 2024.

Kayla Ueligger will serve as the interim director of the Children’s Division. She currently is the Department of Social Services’ operational excellence director. Before taking on that role, Ueligger worked in the Children’s Division in a number of capacities — including as a front-line investigator.

Missouri’s next governor will take office in January and will have an opportunity to appoint a permanent successor to Missey. Both candidates, Republican Mike Kehoe and Democrat Crystal Quade, have promised to boost pay for Missouri’s child abuse investigators, who have a starting salary of around $44,000.

Copyright 2024 St. Louis Public Radio

Since entering the world of professional journalism in 2006, Jason Rosenbaum dove head first into the world of politics, policy and even rock and roll music. A graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, Rosenbaum spent more than four years in the Missouri State Capitol writing for the Columbia Daily Tribune, Missouri Lawyers Media and the St. Louis Beacon. Since moving to St. Louis in 2010, Rosenbaum's work appeared in Missouri Lawyers Media, the St. Louis Business Journal and the Riverfront Times' music section. He also served on staff at the St. Louis Beacon as a politics reporter. Rosenbaum lives in Richmond Heights with with his wife Lauren and their two sons.
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