The state Children’s Services Commission is starting efforts to plug holes in state law requiring childcare workers and elder-care workers to go through background checks.
The Kansas City Child Abuse Roundtable Coalition says the loophole in state law means a child abuser from any of our eight surrounding states could come here and be hired at a licensed daycare center without any detection of criminal history.
The roundtable says there is no consistency in regulations among various state agencies that deal with childcare.
State Representative Jeff Grisamore, the chairman of the state Children’s Services Commission, says children are not the only ones at risk. He says the gap in the law also leaves senior citizens and people with disabilities in jeopardy. "There is a tapestry of services where there are glaring gaps where (there is) no background background check requirement and no central clearing housie for the retaining of that information…," he says.
The Kansas City roundtable says almost 300-thousand children are cared for every day in Missouri. The state commission will spend the next five months drafting proposals that the governor and legislature can act on.