foster care

Twice this year, emergency response crews were called to a foster care contractor's office in Topeka to save the lives of children in state custody. Poor supervision at such offices has been a problem for years.

A court-mandated report released Monday shows that Kansas' foster care system is not only showing no improvement in key areas, but getting even worse. Foster children are still sleeping in offices, despite a lawsuit settlement requiring that stop three years ago.

Starting salaries for Missouri Children’s Division investigators are often much lower than those in other governments and the private sector.

Law students at UMKC's Expungement Clinic helped nearly 60 people clear their criminal records, giving them better opportunities for jobs and housing. But the clinic's funding has run out. Plus: Foster group homes are meant for youth with significant behavioral and mental health issues, but Missouri doesn't have enough beds for girls.

Children in the foster care system with severe behavioral health issues and trauma are often treated in group homes that specialize in individualized care. In at least two states, there is space at these centers for boys — but not for girls.

The number of foster kids in custody in Missouri has dwindled to just below 12,000 as of May, compared to more than 14,000 in 2021.

Missouri child welfare advocates and lawmakers are alarmed over the sparse use of a drug rehabilitation program that could help keep kids safe. Plus: How women surgeons at the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Wichita are trying to change the status quo.

Missouri child advocates and legislators are alarmed over the sporadic use of a program to steer parents to drug rehabilitation and keep their children out of foster care. It's especially underutilized in Kansas City and St. Louis.

Kansas will be the first state to let foster teens pick a family without losing foster care benefits. Plus: A number of Midwestern states, including Kansas and Missouri, introduced legislation this year that would give rights to embryos and fetuses.

Older foster children in Kansas who face aging out of care will soon be able to choose their own families. In the past, they had to sometimes choose between being adopted or keeping important foster care benefits like free college tuition.

Missouri will continue to take millions of dollars in the next year in Social Security benefits and use the money to help pay for foster care. The result is that kids who are orphaned or have disabilities are responsible for paying toward the cost of their care in state custody, while foster kids who are ineligible for those benefits pay nothing.

Missouri faces a backlog of child abuse and neglect investigations — the Kansas City region has the most, with 3,036 cases that have been open for at least 46 days. With a shortage of investigators at the state's Children’s Division, lawmakers consider hiring private contractors to help.