children

Missouri’s share of children being disenrolled from Medicaid is third-highest among the states that report age breakouts. Nearly 40,000 kids total lost coverage — mostly for paperwork reasons — and it's not yet clear how many were able to cycle back or move to another program.

Two schools in the Hickman Mills district, Smith Hale Middle School and Ruskin High School, are participating in a national program that provides counseling and clinical mentoring to girls who have experienced traumatic stress.

State Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick says a review of the Children’s Division, which has struggled for years to recruit and retain staff, may not happen right away because of staff constraints in his own office. Meanwhile, Missouri has a backlog of more than 10,000 open child abuse and neglect cases.

The non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch gave Missouri an "F" grade for its compliance with international child rights standards. Missouri still allows 16-year-olds to be married, and allows corporal punishment in public and private schools.

Officials on Monday announced Washington University's Transgender Center at St. Louis Children's Hospital would no longer offer puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones or surgeries to minors — even those who are exempted from Missouri's new ban.

There are more than 10,000 cases of alleged child abuse and neglect in Missouri that remain open, including over 3,600 in the Kansas City region. The NPR Midwest Newsroom found that investigators in the state's Children’s Division are overloaded and dealing with a shortage of case workers.

As of August, Kansas City had 3,636 open investigations into child abuse and neglect. Across the state, there are more than 10,000 cases that have been open more than 45 days after being reported. Missouri officials acknowledge the problem and that fixing it isn't easy.

Officials agree that clearing the backlog at Missouri’s Children’s Division won’t be easy or quick. “I think this is a business decision when it comes down to it," says one Lee's Summit lawmaker. “If we value the children of Missouri, we have to do more.”

A new state report shows a drop in the number of Missouri kindergarteners who received the required immunizations for schools, which include DTAP, Polio, MMR, Hep B and Varicella.

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.