child care

The credit is designed to encourage small businesses to offset costs for their employees and get money shaved off their state tax bill as a reward, but advocates say the Kansas hasn’t done a great job spreading the word.

There aren’t enough child care openings for Kansas families, and the ones that do exist can cost more than a home mortgage.

As the 2024 legislative session begins, the Republican-led Missouri General Assembly is prioritizing expanding child care access and restricting ballot initiative restrictions. But the stakes of an election year could exacerbate divisions between the parties.

By some estimates, Kansas is short more than 84,000 childcare slots in order to meet current demand. And even when they find an opening, families can pay more than their mortgage to keep their kid enrolled. State legislators say fixing the issue is a priority.

Missouri’s Board of Education changed a rule this week that had prevented many child care providers from accessing the $26 million in grant funding allocated by lawmakers.

Ninety of Missouri’s 114 counties are considered "child care deserts." The president of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce said "knuckleheads doing filibusters" in the state Senate prevent solutions.

Refugees coming to Kansas City often need to learn how to drive in order to get a job or go to school. One Congolese man is stepping up to teach his fellow compatriots. Plus: Despite the fact that child care can cost more than a mortgage in Kansas, providers say they can barely afford to stay open.

Child care is expensive for families, yet it doesn't bring in enough money for providers to grow or pay workers high wages. Kansas is at a crossroads.

Two separate audits of the Kansas foster care system have found troubling trends in child welfare. After a 2018 lawsuit, which alleged that foster kids moved around so much they were essentially homeless, the state agreed to improve on a handful of metrics. But years later, the situation is just as bad — and in some cases, worse.

The increased reimbursement rate will go to child care providers who accept a subsidy to increase access for low-income and foster families.

Successfully completing drug addiction treatment becomes more complicated when parents need to find child care for their children. That means some Kansans parents never go into treatment. Plus: Despite several GOP lawmakers saying they have no interest in pursuing restrictions on gender-affirming care for adults, transgender Missourians are bracing for more limits on their rights.

Applicants to the state child care subsidy program often face long call center wait times and onerous paperwork requirements — and child care providers who accept the subsidy face administrative hurdles of their own.