JEFFERSON CITY — The state of Missouri is scrambling to find solutions to failures in its foster care system.
It’s been about six months since the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a case study revealing that Missouri’s foster care system rarely reduced a child’s risk of going missing from state custody in 2019.
Since that study was released, Missouri’s Department of Social Services (DSS), which administers the state’s foster care system, is now under new leadership. Acting Director Robert Knodell was appointed to the position in the fall of 2021. He said the department is continuing its efforts to address those failures, specifically pushing for technology updates and budget increases to better support caseworkers and the foster care system at large.
“We're comfortable at this time that those issues are being addressed,” Knodell said. “The children referenced in those reports that remain under the care of the Children's Division have been identified and are safe.”
Knodell said that fixing the findings of the OIG report is an ongoing issue. The report looked through the cases of 59 children in the foster care system in 2019. In the report, the office identified four major findings:
- Missouri doesn’t have policies to identify a child who might have an increased chance of going missing or any interventions set in place to reduce that risk.
- There often was no evidence of Missouri agencies taking the required action to locate children missing from foster care.
- One in three children whose cases were reviewed didn’t have evidence of a completed health and safety check following their return to foster care.
- Missouri’s case management system doesn’t accurately identify children who are missing from foster care.
Brian Whitley, the regional inspector general for the Office of Evaluation and Inspections in Kansas City, said the OIG found these issues across the state.
“The foster care system is so integral to the community across Missouri, but it's not just isolated to one area,” Whitley said. “This isn't an urban issue or a rural issue. It's a statewide Missouri issue. And, it's not just a Missouri issue, because [there are] issues across the country.”
In its case study, the OIG recommended that DSS develop new policies that identify children with increased risks of going missing from foster care and create interventions that would reduce the case managers from not complying with required actions. It also pushed for a new monitoring mechanism that oversees case managers and a case management system update to ensure the correct identification of children who go missing.
The OIG also made recommendations to the Administration for Children and Families, like creating a forum for states to share experiences in reducing a child’s risk of going missing and supporting the state at large as agencies try to find solutions to the system’s failures.
Whitley said some changes are already being made when it comes to case manager accountability.
“The more eyes you have looking for the children, the better chance you have of getting a child,” Whitley said. “We also worked with the Missouri Children's Division to develop a checklist which they’re using, so they’re actually working on programs to improve the situation.”
Rep. Dottie Bailey (R-Eureka) said that just one checklist isn’t going to fill a full report of failures.
“It's a stain on our state, and it's a lack of people at the top not doing their jobs,” Bailey said. “We have failed — the state of Missouri has failed — our foster kids, the most disturbing piece of it. When it comes to kids, there are no excuses anymore.”
Bailey is the vice chairman of the Children’s and Families Committee in the Missouri House of Representatives.
“To me as a mom, I’m horrified, and as a legislator, [I’m] angry, upset, disappointed. I mean, how many adjectives could I use?” Bailey said. “They've got a large mess to clean up. We're gonna help them as much as we can, but our job is to hold them accountable for protecting these kids.”
Rep. Sarah Unsicker (D- Shrewsbury), who also serves as the minority caucus policy chair, said that change, especially when it comes to technology for the Children's Division and subsequent departments, is long overdue.
“It should have happened yesterday,” Unsicker said. “Somebody should be out looking for those kids as missing kids.”
It’s a problem that legislators at the state Capitol are addressing as the department looks for solutions too.
“The social issues that you would find in certain communities vary across the state,” Knodell said. “When you've seen one community in the state of Missouri, you've seen one community, and the challenges are unique.”
The first installment of KOMU 8’s Forgotten in Foster Care series airs Sunday night after the Super Bowl and Olympics. On Monday and Tuesday after the Olympics, hear more about what the state has done so far in taking accountability for the identified foster care failures and what’s being done to make sure they never happen again.
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February 14, 2022 at 06:00AM
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TARGET 8: Missouri agencies begin to address failures identified in foster care system - KOMU 8
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