Children's Division Archives

Missouri’s governor signs major foster care legislation into law (AUDIO)

July 13, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Bipartisan legislation that aims to modernize Missouri’s foster care system and provides Medicaid coverage to homeless children was signed into law Monday by the governor in Jefferson City.

State Rep. Sheila Solon, R-St. Joseph, testifies before a Missouri House committee in Jefferson City on January 28, 2020 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

State Rep. Sheila Solon, R-St. Joseph, who chairs the House Children and Families Committee, says it’s one of the most important bills she’s passed in her eight years in Jefferson City. She’s leaving the House in December, due to term limits.

“It’s going to help children all over the state of Missouri and especially it’s going to help foster children, who are the responsibility of all of us,” Solon says.

The Missouri Department of Social Services (DSS) says there were 14,043 foster care children in Missouri as of May.

Solon’s bill aims to reform Missouri’s foster care system, by requiring the creation of a response team that will review the practices of the state Children’s Division and any contractors. The Children’s Division, which is part of DSS, is responsible for the administration of child welfare services.

Chairwoman Solon tells Missourinet that the response team is a key component of her bill.

“Some of the shortcomings, and not just our foster care system here in Missouri but all across the country is a lack of transparency, a lack of sharing data and the lack of sharing information when it comes to foster children,” says Solon.

Under House Bill 1414, the new response team must meet for the first time before January 1, 2021.

Solon says her legislation improves transparency in the foster care system, and ensures that it remains focused on the best interests of each child.

Missouri’s homeless youth will be covered by Medicaid and will have access to a free birth certificate, under the 58-page bill.

“Those two provisions, believe it or not, were not as difficult as the third provision, which allows homeless youth to contract for mental health services,” Solon says.

The bill also ensures that foster parents have access to full medical records of a child placed with them, at the time of placement.

The Missouri House approved the legislation by a bipartisan 144-3 vote. Solon credits State Sen. David Sater, R-Cassville, for getting the bill through the Senate, where it also had bipartisan support.

Craig Stevenson, the policy director of “Kids Win Missouri,” also praises the bill.

“The passage of this bill is the work of passionate policymakers and it will positively impact children of all ages,” Stevenson says, in a statement.

The new law will take effect on August 28.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with State Rep. Sheila Solon, R-St. Joseph, which was recorded on July 13, 2020:

Missouri House Speaker and children’s advocates praise Wood’s selection as Children’s Division director

May 22, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

(News director J.T. Gerlt from Missourinet Versailles affiliate KTKS contributed to this story)

A veteran Missouri lawmaker who is term-limited has announced that he will be taking over as the new Children’s Division director in mid-June.

State Rep. David Wood, R-Versailles, listens to testimony during the May 21, 2020 meeting of the CARES Act funding working group at the Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

State Rep. David Wood, R-Versailles, made the announcement Friday morning on Missourinet Versailles affiliate KTKS (FM 95.1). Wood joined news director J.T. Gerlt in-studio for a live interview.

Wood notes there have been five Children’s Division directors in the past seven years.

“I have promised that I will take this job for at least four years,” Wood says. “And I told the Governor (Mike Parson) that we need stability there and I would stay as long as he was there for sure, and longer.”

The Children’s Division is part of the state Department of Social Services (DSS), and is responsible for the administration of child welfare services.

Children’s Division responsibilities include foster care and adoption. The division also partners with local child care providers through the child care subsidy program, which helps Missouri families to become self-sufficient.

The division works with families, communities and the courts toward ensuring the safety and well-bring of Missouri children.

Wood, who’s in his eighth and final year in the House because of term limits, was first elected to the Legislature in 2012. He also serves as the House Budget Committee’s vice chairman.

He tells KTKS that he hopes his experience will help in funding the Children’s Division.

“I know it’s going to be a tough budget cycle because the revenues aren’t coming in, we’re going to have to look at cuts,” says Wood. “And with my experience on the budget and knowing how to deal with that and how to defend certain pieces, I think I’m going to be a good advocate for the department.”

Representative Wood tells Missourinet he will start as Children’s Division director on June 15, and that his resignation from the House will be effective just before that.

Missouri House Speaker Elijah Haahr, R-Springfield, praises Wood’s appointment. Haahr has served in the Legislature with Wood for eight years.

“Rep. Wood is one of the most knowledgeable and respected members of the state legislature and will be an incredible asset to the state in his new role,” Speaker Haahr tells Missourinet.

The appointment is also praised by a lobbyist who represents “Kids Win Missouri.” That’s a coalition of groups and individuals who are working to improve the well-being of Missouri children.

“Representative Wood’s passion for keeping children safe, supporting families, and working to make state systems better will all come together perfectly in this role,” Craig Stevenson of “Kids Win Missouri” tweeted on Friday.

Budget director: will work with lawmakers on how association dues are paid

May 17, 2014 By Mike Lear

The state’s budget director tells House Republicans the Nixon Administration’s budget office is willing to work with legislative budget makers to change how the state pays dues to organizations its agencies and elected officials belong to.

Republicans called attention this week to the paying of dues to the National Governors Association out of the budget for the Department of Social Services’ administration. For three years that added up to more than $390,000 dollars.

See earlier story

Budget committee members including Representative Caleb Rowden (R-Columbia) feel they appropriated money to be used by that agency, not to pay organization dues.

“We feel like we’ve been duped, I think it what it really boils down to, intentional or not,” Rowden told State Budget Director Linda Luebbering. “It’s absolutely and unequivocally wrong, and there’s no other way to put it.”

Luebbering told the committee she doesn’t have the authority to commit to changing how dues are paid, but said she would talk with others in the Nixon Administration and future legislative budget makers about the issue.

“I have committed that we are willing to work with the House and Senate to see if we can’t come to agreement on how to do this differently in the future.”

Republicans say the appearance is that the paying of the Governors Association dues was being hidden, but Luebbering says that was not the intention.

“There are dues paid in a lot of different places in appropriations. They don’t have specific line items. This is not any different from the other ones,” Luebbering told lawmakers. “Clearly we felt it was appropriate, clearly previous administrations have paid it from various places as well.”

Luebbering notes other expenses such as food are also covered out of administrative appropriations that don’t have specific line items. She says the expenditures can be found on the Missouri Accountability Portal.

“We think it is just as transparent as any other dues that are paid in state government,” says Luebbering.

Representative Chris Kelly (D-Columbia) disagrees, and calls the expenditures, “clearly not transparent, extremely opaque.”

Representative Robert Ross (R-Yukon) says “incredible” is that the Governors Association dues were paid out of the Social Services budget in September of 2013, three months into the fiscal year’s budget.

“If that’s the case, clearly we have been over appropriating to Children’s Division, Social Services, the whole gamut, if they already know at that point that they have extra money and can say, ‘Hey, let’s pay the Governors Dues on this.'”

Kelly says the only way such expenditures will stop is if future budget committees do a more extensive job of going over the state budget.

“I think we are not doing as good a job managing the budget as Jeremiah Nixon is at spending the money,” says Kelly. “We’ve seen example after example of example of that brilliance, about how he finds ways to spend the money in ways that we don’t authorize.”

Kelly suggested twice the amount spent on dues be removed from the governor’s budget for Fiscal Year 2016.

House Speaker Tim Jones (R-Eureka) in his comments Friday on the end of the regular session of the General Assembly hinted that work to review such expenditures will continue during the legislative interim.

House Republicans, Gov. Nixon clash on use of Social Services money for National Governors Association dues (VIDEO)

May 14, 2014 By Mike Lear

State House Republicans are criticizing Governor Jay Nixon (D) for the use of more than $390,000 in the past three fiscal years’ budgets for the Department of Social Services to pay dues to the National Governors Association. More than $206,000 of that has come from the Children’s Division within the Department of Social Services to pay dues to the National Governors Association.

The office of Representative Sue Allen (R-Town and Country) has offered documents it says show how that membership was paid for. They show money was taken from the appropriations to several agencies, but in fiscal years 2012, 2013 and in the current budget, the greatest amount came from the Children’s Division. About $69,000 was taken from the Division’s budget in each of those years. $32,000 was taken from Missouri Healthnet administration in fiscal years 2012 and 2014 and about $29,000 was taken from Missouri Healthnet administration in fiscal year 2013 and $28,000 from Family Support administration.

The National Governors Association is a bipartisan organization of the nation’s state governors. Through it those governors discuss policy and priorities and share best practices, and the association advocates on federal issues impacting states.

Allen, House Speaker Tim Jones (R-Eureka) and House Budget Committee Chairman Rick Stream (R-Kirkwood) say Nixon’s actions violate the title clause of that budget bill, that says, “no funds from these sections shall be expended for the purpose of costs associated with the offices of the Governor,” or the other elected officials of the state.

“The Governor and his staff know that we appropriated the money for a specific purpose; for children, for Children’s Services,” says Stream, “and they deliberately spent it somewhere else. To me that’s just deceptive.”

Stream adds, “[Nixon] basically misspent the money, and we’re hoping that he will not continue to do it.”

Jones says it’s an issue of transparency.

“There’s nothing wrong with the National Governor’s Association,” says Jones, “but if [Nixon] wants to spend money on that it should come from a delineated line item in his budget.”

Representative Sue Allen (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Allen took the issue up Wednesday at a hearing by the Appropriations Committee on Health, Mental Health, and Social Services, which she chairs. Department of Social Services Director Brian Kinkade told the committee the National Governors Association deals with federal issues, including those related to his department’s functions.

“One that has been worked on recently is the Prison Rape Elimination Act,” says Kinkade. “NGA’s been involved in advocacy with the states on that issue.” Kinkade says that act is related to the work of the Division of Youth Services.

Kinkade says the proposal to take the Governors Association dues came from the Office of Administration’s Division of Budget & Planning.

Troubles for Children’s Division answered with money this year

Nixon proposed and legislature appropriated an additional $5.1 million Children’s Division to create two new positions on its career ladder for child abuse investigators and other changes, meant to improve the Division’s response to child abuse investigations. That proposal is part of the Fiscal Year 2015 budget proposal that is awaiting action by Nixon.

Deparrtment of Social Services Director Brian Kinkade (right) and Department of Mental Health Director Keith Schafer

Department of Social Services Director Brian Kinkade (right) and Department of Mental Health Director Keith Schafer testify to the House Appropriations Committee on Health, Mental Health and Social Services.

Republicans have pointed to that appropriation and asked whether there would then have been a better agency to have taken money from to page the Governors Association dues.

“Federal funds are as important for the Children’s Division as any in our Department, so in looking at how to allocate that across our Department that’s not an unfair allocation,” says Kinkade.

Kinkade adds, “I need to be very clear though: this in no way jeopardized direct services or field service for our child welfare program.”

Allen says that still is not the appropriate place to draw those funds from.

“They still used funds from a very, very, I’ll say ‘weak’ program; Children’s Division, because over the past few years we’ve had children die,” says Allen.

Kinkade says the money came from the Department’s central administration and would have gone unused if not used to pay for the Governors Association membership.

Allen isn’t satisfied with that answer.

“If these people were incapable of recognizing ways to go beyond and further support these children,” with that money, Allen says, “that’s a problem.”

House Republicans say they also want to know if other money being appropriated in the budget is being used for purposes they aren’t aware of or don’t intend.

“We’ll certainly take a look. A much closer look,” says Stream.

In a statement, Nixon says the same funding source has been used in past years and calls the issues the House Republicans raise a “diversionary stunt,” that will “fall flat with Missourians wondering why their elected representatives refuse to reform our ethics laws, rein in wasteful tax credit expenditures or provide health coverage to 300,000 working Missourians through Medicaid expansion.”

The documents provided by Allen’s office and communication with a then-staffer for former Governor Matt Blunt (R) suggest that the dues for the Governors Association were not taken from the Social Services budget by administrations prior to Nixon’s.

Nixon adds, “I urge these legislators to set aside these desperate distractions and use the time they have left in the session to work on making a real difference for the Missourians we serve.”

Children’s Division Director responds to proposed funding increase

May 12, 2014 By Mike Lear

The Senate Budget Committee Chairman has said he will be watching for results from the Children’s Division within the Department of Social Services for improvements in its handling of child abuse cases. That comes as the legislature and Governor Jay Nixon (D) both recommended $5.1-million additional dollars for the Division, intended to help it lower the turnover rate among abuse investigators and to help reduce a backlog of abuse reports.

The Division Director, Tim Decker, says it is ready for additional scrutiny.

“We expect results of ourselves,” says Decker. “We want to see enhanced well being for the children we serve. We want to be sure they’re getting their healthcare needs met. We want to be sure that they’re having the same opportunities that we want for our own children; to go to college, to pursue a career, to have those lifelong supports they’re going to need.”

See an earlier story on the additional $5.1-million for the Children’s Division

“Ultimately the way you measure results in the child welfare system is whether children are safe, whether children in the system are reunifying with their families or moving on to another permanent placement,” says Decker, “Because all children need a loving family that’s going to be with them for the duration.”

Decker believes the additional money will make a difference.

“These investments will actually strengthen our workforce,” says Decker. “They will prepare people for the work, for the difficulty of the work, and they’ll really build a career pathway so that some of our best staff can remain on the front lines working with the children and families.”

The proposed increases for the Children’s Division are included in the Fiscal Year 2015 budget proposal approved by the legislature last week. Governor Nixon still must act on that budget.

Click here to listen to an interview with Tim Decker

Budget agreement includes $5.1-million boost for state Children’s Division

May 6, 2014 By Mike Lear

The House-Senate budget conference committee has adopted most of the additional money for the Children’s Division within the Missouri Department of Social Services that had been proposed by Governor Jay Nixon (D) and the House. The Senate had removed the nearly $6-million increase over concerns the money would go to pay increases for undeserving employees and technology upgrades that would not succeed in addressing issues facing the Division.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kurt Schaefer (left) and House Budget Committee Chairman Rick Stream preside over the budget conference committee.

The money was aimed at offering incentives to recruit and retain child abuse investigators and reduce among them a high turnover rate, and to help them whittle down a high caseload and respond faster to reports of abuse.

More than $2.2-million was proposed to create a career ladder in the Children’s Division to offer better pay and responsibility to investigators who earned them. More than $1.5-million was proposed to provide investigators with tablets and internet connectivity so they could more quickly deal with reports. $347,000 was proposed for secondary trauma and child abuse training and $955,704 was proposed to give a 2-3% increase in salary to investigators, beyond a 1% across-the-board salary increase already included in the budget.

The conference committee did not include $828,000 to forgive student loans to investigators in circuits that have seen a high rate of turnover.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kurt Schaefer (R-Columbia) had been a vocal critic of the proposals when his committee removed them from the budget. He was concerned about offering a larger pay increase to those investigators than other state employees would receive, given the highly publicized issues that division has had completing investigations.

Schaefer says his opinion changed after meeting with the Division’s Director, Tim Decker.

“He gave me a personal assurance,” says Schaefer, “That he would direct those increases towards those employees that truly arr meritorious and doing a great job for the State of Missouri, and he would not give those increases to people that did not deserve it or were not doing a good job.”

Schaefer says he was impressed with Decker.

“He’s got a lot of ideas and I’m hoping that he can carry those forward and that what we did, we can help him carry that forward, and he can get some changes in that division.”

Schaefer says he will be watching for improvements in the Division’s performance when handling abuse reports.

The legislature must get its budget proposal to Governor Nixon by the close of business Friday.

Increases for Children’s Division still pending for legislative budget proposal

April 29, 2014 By Mike Lear

The Senate Appropriations Chairman says some of the money Governor Jay Nixon (D) and the state House proposed adding to the budget for the state Children’s Division might make the final legislative budget plan.

The Senate Budget Committee didn’t follow the proposal to add $4.6-million to pay for increases to the career ladder for child abuse investigators and the creation of two new levels of caseworkers, more technology upgrades, and student loan forgiveness.

The Senate is working through the budget now and once it is done, some of its members will confer with counterparts in the House to arrive at a final proposal to send to Governor Nixon.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kurt Schaefer (R-Columbia) says he’s open to possibly restoring the dollars for the technology upgrades, that would include giving caseworkers internet-enabled I-Pads and WiFi service to expedite filing of and retrieval of information in child abuse investigations.

“We see a lot of proposals in the state budget that if you just put more money into technology we’ll fix all these problems,” says Schaefer, “just because we put the money there doesn’t mean it’s going to solve anything. I have had some discussions along the lines of the I-Pad proposal, though, and I do think that probably is one that is probably worth looking at in [budget conference with the House].”

Deputy Director of Missouri Kids First Emily van Schenkhof says she hopes the proposed boost in pay can also become part of the budget the legislature will propose.

“Right now there is no incentive for someone who is a really good investigator to stay in the trenches and doing this work,” says van Schenkhof. “They can make more money as a supervisor and they can make more money in private industry. As a result of that we see incredibly high turnover in front line workers because this work is hard. It’s extremely hard. It’s not well compensated.”

Schaefer says doesn’t think the pay increase received enough study by legislators this year and doesn’t fit in with the recommendations of the Personnel Advisory Board.

Legislator: Children’s Division investigators need more and better training

December 30, 2013 By Mike Lear

The head of a House subcommittee on child abuse says the top issue he wants to deal with in the 2014 session is how the state’s child welfare caseworkers are trained.

Representative Bill Lant’s (R-Pineville) subcommittee looks at the reporting and investigation of child abuse and neglect. He has high praise for the people that take reports at the state hotline center, but says the people that have to investigate those reports aren’t being trained the way past lawmakers wanted them to be.

“They’re not adequately prepared to face what they need to be facing,” says Lant. “They haven’t had on-the-job training … they haven’t been exposed to, if you will, the horrors of the field. It’s hard to describe to someone in a classroom situation that you’re going to walk into a house trailer where cockroaches are going to be falling off the ceiling into your hair, but those are the realities of this job.”

Lant wants to attempt first to address training issues through policy in the Social Services Department’s Children’s Division rather than through new legislation. He says the Division is already interested in improving training.

“I think we need to have quite possibly a lab course,” says Lant, “where (students) actually get out of the school environment and go out on the street and see some of these things, and that’s one of the things the Department is working on.”

The child welfare advocacy group Missouri Kids First says child welfare workers need to be better paid. Lant does say his committee will take a look at their pay scale early in 2014, but he believes training issues are a greater contributor to turnover among those workers.