social services

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

The federal government told Missouri it is concerned the state is not doing enough to “achieve and sustain” compliance with federal rules on Medicaid and CHIP. In Missouri, 72% of insurance applications took more than 45 days to process — the worst in the U.S.

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.

The head of the agency that oversees the Missouri Children’s Division says he wants investigators to treat evidence of fentanyl as an imminent danger to kids.

A district court judge rules that Missouri's practices around SNAP benefits — including long call center wait times and a lack of accommodations for those with disabilities — violate federal laws.

A state report found that 20 children under 5 died of fentanyl or in combination with other substances. It found that Children's Division investigators, who are tasked with following up on claims of abuse and neglect, “lacked essential procedures, missed warning signs and left vulnerable children at risk.”

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.

The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requires that Medicaid applications for the largest group of participants — who are low-income children, families and adults — be processed within 45 days. In February, Missouri took an average of 77 days to process applications.

Kansas will pay $1 million to settle a lawsuit over the 2015 murder of a 7-year-old boy.

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack sent out a letter to the governors of 44 states — including Missouri and Kansas — that are not meeting federal standards for processing SNAP applications.

Missouri’s child welfare agency took at least $6.1 million in foster kids’ benefits last year to reimburse itself for the cost of providing care. It’s a longstanding practice that has come under increased scrutiny across the country.

LaTasha Jacobs and Carl Smart come from different backgrounds and have different ideas about why Kansas City's homicide rate is so high. But they plan to work together in Jefferson City to try to persuade pro-gun lawmakers to actually consider solutions such as better childcare, nutrition and education.