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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Kansas will be the first state to let foster teens pick a family without losing foster care benefitsOlder 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.
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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.
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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.
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A Kansas judge went against a foster care agency’s recommendation when she placed a girl with a foster parent rather than her grandparents. Critics say the case represents chronic problems with Kansas' heavily privatized foster care system and lack of state oversight.
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Kansas could be the first state in the U.S. to allow foster youth ages 16 and above to pick the adults who help support and make decisions for them. The SOUL Family program aims to help create a network of support as foster teens transition into adulthood.
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Kansas could be the first state to pilot the SOUL Family Legal Permanency Option, which would give foster youth 16 and up a say in who supports them as they transition into adulthood. A bill that would implement the program has a hearing in a Senate committee tomorrow.