foster care – Missouri House of Representatives Newsroom

House Renews Effort to End State Seizure of Foster Children’s Benefits

A House panel has launched this year’s effort to make sure that money intended for Missouri’s foster children gets to those children and isn’t intercepted by the state.

Representative Melissa Schmidt (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

An estimated 12,000 young people in Missouri’s foster care system are eligible for benefits from the Social Security or Veterans Administrations, or railroad retirement benefits, often because they are the survivors of deceased parents or because they have disabilities. The state Children’s Division takes those benefits to cover the costs of caring for those children. Social Security benefits, alone, can be around $900 or more each month.

House Bill 737 would end that practice.

Legislators expressed shock and disbelief when they were first introduced to this issue in 2024, and the House passed a bill then to address it but that did not reach the governor. HB 737 is this year’s version, and at the urging of new House Speaker Jonathan Patterson it is among the first bills being considered in 2025.

“We must prioritize the most vulnerable among us, especially our foster kids,” Patterson said in his address on the opening day of the session, calling for this legislation to be the first bill the House passes this year.

HB 737 sponsor Melissa Schmidt (R-Eldridge) told the House Committee on Children and Families that the practice, “depletes a resource that could meet crucial needs and be a significant support for foster children as they age out of the system and attempt to enter into adult living.”

Madison Eacret with FosterAdopt Connect said those benefits could be going to things like housing, transportation, higher education, or other needs and wants.

“It’s really difficult when you’re in foster care and you’re transitioning at 18, to go out into the world, and these funds are really critical for that transition.”

Schmidt recalled for the committee testimony offered last year from a young man named Ian, who experienced this firsthand.

Representative Raychel Proudie (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

“During his time in care he stated that he had one source of hope. His mother served honorably in the U.S. Navy and Ian was eligible for her survivor benefits through both the Veterans Administration and Social Security. He had hoped these funds would help him through college and to establish stable housing and secure transportation. However, Ian learned when he turned 18 and exited foster care that the system had depleted those funds.”

Committee members expressed similar sentiments to those that were heard during the debate in 2024. Ferguson Democrat Raychel Proudie has been among the most vocal.

“The fact that any government would do such a thing to some of the most vulnerable people on the planet, let alone children, is absolutely repugnant. The fact that we do this makes me sick. It’s outrageous,” Proudie said.

She explained how this practice could create a situation in which foster children don’t receive the same care that peers in their households receive, because there isn’t enough money to go around.

“I’m so embarrassed that our state does this. It does add some equity when you’re raising kids, foster children, to not treat them like they’re not your kids. That’s all they want, is to be treated like they belong somewhere.”

St. Peters Republican Wendy Hausman also filed a version of this proposal. She thanked Schmidt for carrying it.

“This is an amazing bill and it needs to be done, and we need to pass this as fast as we can because children need this.”

Chairwoman Holly Jones (R-Eureka) joined others on the Committee in thanking Speaker Patterson for making this a priority.

Representative Holly Jones (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

“I love that we are starting this year, this 103^rd General Assembly Children and Families Committee off with this bill, and something that we can all get around.”

HB 737 includes two other provisions.

One would specify that the offense of abuse or neglect of a child does not include letting a child do things like going to school or nearby locations on foot or by bicycle; play outside; or stay at home for a reasonable amount of time without supervision. Any such “independent activities” must be deemed appropriate for the child’s age, maturity, and physical and mental abilities.

The other would require the Children’s Division to attempt to place a child in its care with a person, agency, or institution governed by persons of the same religious faith as that of at least one of the child’s parents. Missouri Courts must already do so. The bill would require that the Division follow the same procedure.

The committee has not voted on HB 737.

Earlier story: House Acts to Stop State Seizure of Benefits Intended for Foster Children

House Acts to stop State Seizure of Benefits Intended for Foster Children

The House wants Missouri to stop taking money from the children in its care without their knowledge, money that they could use for things like continuing education, buying a home, or otherwise bettering their lives.

*Representative Hannah Kelly (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)*

House Bill 2227 would end a practice legislators were “shocked” to learn the state has been engaged in, and one some called “egregious.”

Missouri has, for decades, taken benefits that are supposed to go to children in foster care and used them to pay its own agencies for providing that care. Those benefits include things like Social Security funds intended for those with disabilities, or survivors’ benefits for children whose parents have died.

About five percent of children under the state’s control are eligible for such benefits, which often amount to more than $900 a month per child. The intended recipients rarely know that someone else has applied for their money or that they were even eligible for these benefits.

As for how much money the state intercepted from children in its foster system last year alone, the bill’s sponsor, Representative Hannah Kelly (R-Mountain Grove) told her colleagues, “The fiscal note says there’s an impact of approximately $6,566,982. That money belongs to children who are wards of the state, who have lost parents and loved ones, who are owed benefits that the state takes.”

In 2018, the state intercepted $8.1 million; in 2020, $7.9 million; and in 2022, the figure was last checked at $7.1 million.

The legislation would allow that money to be used for unmet needs that exceed what the state is obligated to pay. Legislators heard that in the case of social security benefits for a child about to age out of the foster system, one year’s worth could translate to two years of books and supplies for college; ten months of rent for a one bedroom apartment; up to one year of childcare; or to offset four years of SNAP benefits.

As HB 2227 has progressed through the House, legislators at each step, upon hearing for the first time what Missouri has been doing, have responded with disbelief.

Ferguson Democrat Raychel Proudie stressed to her fellows, “This is not something that’s coming out of general revenue or any sort of taxes. This is money that belongs to those children. They are our children, those are considered Missouri’s children. No child wants to be in foster care and we certainly should not be charging children things that they are entitled to, to just give them a basal level of their living. These are the same children who sometimes go to their foster parents’ home with trash bags, everything that they own in the world, and we are still taking, taking, taking from these children.”

Before House members voted on HB 2227, Kelly stressed to them that passing it is the right thing to do.

“It ensures that moneys owed children go to the children.”

Proudie praised Kelly for bringing the legislation up, and for her continued commitment to issues concerning the safety and wellbeing of children.

“When we are doing the work and we are really listening like we’re supposed to in this building, these are the type of bills that happen as a result, and it’s some moments – and I have one every year – where I’m really, really proud to be a member of the body and this year’s bill is [HB 2227],” Proudie said.

The House voted 154-0 to send that bill to the Senate. That chamber could soon vote on whether to send its version of this legislation to the House.

VIDEO: ‘Baby Box,’ created by House efforts, used for first time to safely surrender a newborn

For the first time in Missouri a “Baby Box,” allowed in state law thanks to a 2021 House bill, has been used to safely hand over a newborn to emergency officials.

Last Thursday a baby girl believed to have been several hours old was left in the “Safe Haven Baby Box” at a Mehlville Fire Protection District Station 2. The child was taken to a local hospital, and is now in state custody. Authorities said she is in perfect health.

For mothers in need of help, the Safe Haven Crisis Line is (866) 99BABY1, or visit shbb.org

The Baby Box, installed in August and the only one in Missouri, is built into an outer wall at the Fire Station. It allowed the mother to place the girl into a bassinet and close the door. This triggered alarms in the fire station to let personnel know that a child had been relinquished.

Missouri law has since 2002 allowed for babies to be dropped off at places including hospitals and fire stations. The 2021 proposal from Representative Jim Murphy (R-St. Louis) to allow Baby Boxes in Missouri meant to expand on that 2002 law, to allow a person to drop off a baby without interacting with anyone, and with complete anonymity.

Murphy shared the news with his fellow legislators on Monday, and commended the little girl’s mother.

See our earlier story on the installation of this Baby Box

“She should be honored for making a great decision for a baby girl, who now will have a fruitful life,” said Murphy. “I personally would like to thank everybody in this body who voted for that bill, because today we celebrate life and saving a baby’s life, and I think that’s something worth celebrating and I think we should all be very proud of that.”

House legislation enables safe place to surrender newborns in Missouri

The first Baby Box in Missouri has been installed, and more are coming.

*Representative Jim Murphy (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)*

Baby Boxes are an extension of the Safe Haven law, which allows parents to relinquish a newborn up to 45 days old without fear of prosecution. That law, in place in Missouri since 2002, allows for babies to be dropped off at places including hospitals and fire stations, but Baby Boxes offer an option for parents who don’t want face-to-face contact.

“The whole idea of the Baby Boxes is [for there to be] no interaction with one human to another, so if you just want to do it and you want to do it anonymously, this is a method of doing it,” said Representative Jim Murphy (R-St. Louis), who sponsored the language that made Baby Boxes an option in Missouri.

For mothers in need of help, the Safe Haven Crisis Line is (866) 99BABY1, or visit shbb.org

The first Box in the state is in his district, at Mehlville Fire Protection District Station 2. There is a commitment for a second Box at Mehlville, and more fire stations in the state are expressing interest.

Murphy said the Safe Haven Law is saving the lives of children.

“It’s happened time and time again where we’ve discovered babies in alleyways or in dumpsters and so forth. For a woman to give up her child after birth has got to be a traumatic decision to make.”

The box is built into an outer wall at the Mehlville Fire Station. A parent can open it, place a baby inside in a bassinet, and close the door. Alarms will alert personnel on duty, who will remove the bassinet and take the baby to a hospital.

“I think the most important thing is that we try to deliver a message to mothers who are in this situation that their baby will be taken care of, and that’s the whole, entire goal of this thing is that the child shall have a good life from that day on and that we don’t villainize the person that gave the baby up. We actually honor them for making a decision that if they can’t care for their baby that they gave it up in a proper way.”

Murphy said since his language became law two years ago, the state had to develop language to ensure Boxes would be safe.

“Everything’s inspected properly, everything’s wired properly, the bassinet’s correct, there’s nothing in there that could endanger the baby, the alarms are set so that there are people readily available to retrieve the child … there’s all kinds of regulations that had to be promulgated to make sure that within a minute or two that that baby is put into care.”

Founder and CEO of Safe Haven Baby Boxes Monica Kelsey helped guide the legislation that allows for these Boxes in Missouri and other states. So far more than 160 have been installed.

“I introduced baby boxes to allow parents anonymity so they can place their infant in an electronically monitored box that calls 911 on its own. It’s heated, it’s cooled, and the infants are only in these boxes for right about two minutes. With the amount of stories that we’re having across this country right now with babies being abandoned, these boxes are saving the lives of these kids now where before they were being thrown in dumpsters, trash cans, alongside highways, and stuff like that.”

She said there are many reasons a parent might want to give up a child, including factors like financial struggles, mental health issues, or domestic abuse. She wants people to support those who utilize the Safe Haven Law.

“Every story is different. Every story is unique, and every person handles crisis differently, but the one thing that all of these parents that are surrendering are doing is they’re putting their child first, and we should celebrate that.”

Babies who are dropped off under Safe Haven receive immediate care, and Kelsey said they are adopted within 30 to 45 days.

“Every baby that has come through the Baby Box program and the Safe Haven program has been adopted.”

For those who drop off a baby under Safe Haven, there is time to change their mind and reclaim their child.

“I don’t think our intent is to take babies away from parents. Our intent is to protect children,” said Murphy.

“They can get their children back as long as the termination of parental rights has not happened and that us ually takes between 30 and 45 days,” said Kelsey.

The installation of this Baby Box has gotten a lot of attention, but Murphy and Kelsey want to stress that it is not the only place in the state to drop off a child.

“Every hospital in America – every hospital in the State of Missouri – is a Safe Haven location, and most [states’ Safe Haven laws also] have fire stations, Missouri is one of them, so every fire station that is manned – that is also another avenue for women in the State of Missouri,” said Kelsey.

Murphy’s Baby Box language was introduced in 2021 as House Bill 76, which was approved by the House 151-1. It was later amended to and became law as part of, House Bill 432 sponsored by Representative Hannah Kelly (R-Mountain Grove).

Since its installation in August, the Box in Mehlville hasn’t been used. Since the Safe Haven Law was adopted in Missouri in 2002, 61 babies have been surrendered.

Kelsey said those who want to see a Baby Box installed in their community can contact her organization for help.

“We’ll walk alongside you, or contact Mehlville Fire. Talk to Chief [Brian] Hendrix. See what his process was, see what he’s learned along the way … contact us if you want to get started. We’ll help you raise the funds so the government doesn’t have to pay for it. Mehlville Fire was 100% not tax dollars, so donors stepped forward for that … and that’s what we like to see. We like to see the communities come together and do this on their own.”

For mothers in need of help, the Safe Haven Crisis Line is (866) 99BABY1. Kelsey’s organization, Safe Haven Baby Boxes, can be found online at shbb.org.

Expansion of adoption tax credit sent to governor

Missouri legislators hope one of the bills they’ve sent to the governor will lead to more children being adopted into loving homes.

One of the provisions in Senate Bill 24 would expand Missouri’s adoption tax credit, which offers a nonrefundable tax credit for one-time adoption-related expenses such as attorney fees, up to $10,000 per child. That credit is capped at $6-million a year. SB 24 would remove that cap, makes the tax credit refundable, and would have the per-child limit adjust with inflation.

Those proposed changes are now awaiting action by Governor Mike Parson (R), and their House sponsor, Hannah Kelly (R-Mountain Grove), couldn’t be happier.

“I just think we did something really good today. I honestly had given up on it and then it passed. I couldn’t hardly believe it. Now it’s on the governor’s desk. I’m very thankful,” said Kelly. “We’re just saying, ‘Hey, we’re here to make sure that we invest in these kids and these families, help them get across the line, get them out of the system, get them building their futures together as a family.’”

More than 2,200 Missouri children are awaiting adoption. Representative Keri Ingle (D-Lee’s Summit) once worked as an adoption specialist with the state Children’s Division, and said most of the families who would adopt those children see the system as complicated and laced with prohibitive expenses.

“They know it costs a lot of money, they know it’s hard, they know that they have to jump through a lot of bureaucratic hurdles, but they don’t know that there’s support on the other end of it. They don’t know that they’ll be eligible, perhaps, for a subsidy and tax credits and things like that, that will help them complete their family and get kids out of foster care and make it affordable and not cost prohibitive.”

Ingle said this bill could make a huge difference.

“We have kids that linger in care indefinitely and unnecessarily, because there are so many families out there that want to adopt kids, that want to create forever homes for these kids, but they just feel like it’s beyond their fiscal ability to do so. Anything we can do to help them through that process and create that forever family and get these kids out of [state] care … there are way too many people that would love to expand their families and adopt.”

The bill is especially personal for Kelly, who talks often to her colleagues and in public settings about her own experience adopting her then-teenage daughter.

“My daughter is building her own life and celebrating her impending wedding coming soon and going to college and doing all the things that you hope to see your children do, not because of me but because she simply had the opportunity to know she had a forever home base to come back to. To be a part of that is a privilege and to get to be a part of helping Missouri families provide that for children who otherwise would not have that, is a privilege.”

*Representative Keri Ingle (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)*

Ingle said even as other issues have caused tension between her party and Republicans there has been a lot of cooperation on issues like this one, and she’s been glad to be a part of it.

“We’ve been really, really lucky to have a specific group of people in my tenure that have really placed children and child welfare at the forefront of what we work on and placed partisan ship at the very, very back when it comes to those things. Politics has nothing to do with child welfare and it shouldn’t have anything to do with that. We should all come together and do what’s right for the kids of this state, and so I’m always really proud to see the work that my colleagues do, on both sides of the aisle, when it pertains to that.”

Kelly added, “If any Missouri family wants to give a child who does not have a forever home a home we need to back up and support them, and that is what this credit is about.”

The House’s final vote on SB 24 was 139-5. It now awaits the governor’s decision to either sign it into law, veto it, or allow it to become law without his action.

House member wants to favor family placements over foster care

A House member wants the state to put more effort into finding family members with whom to place children who are taken into state custody, before placing them with strangers.

Representative Dave Griffith speaks with Alysa Jackson (left) and Sarah Bashore (right) with the Central Missouri Foster Care and Adoption Association (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Jefferson City representative Dave Griffith (R) thinks the state Children’s Division could do more to that end, and some agencies who support his bill agree with him.

“We want to go 50 deep if we have to, to try to find somebody that is going to be a good match for that child, that is going to be able to provide that child with a safe and healthy place to live,” said Griffith. “It really comes down to what is going to be best for the child or the children, and trying to keep children and families together rather than separating families.”

Griffith said he has heard from a number of constituents who have their own, “stories and their own personal nightmares that they are dealing with when their children are taken from them and trying to get their children back and … having their children separated and not being able to go to relatives, or going to wrong relatives and it being injurious to their future, and many of them, to their health.

“Trying to work inside the system and trying to find a way that we can do what’s best for the children of Missouri as a whole, that’s really the genesis behind bringing this bill forward.”

Griffith’s House Bill 1563 would require the Division to make “diligent searches” for biological parents when a child enters state custody. In the case of an emergency placement, the Division would search for grandparents. If they can’t be found or aren’t fit, it would then look for other relatives for placement within 30 days.

Members of the House Committee on Emerging Issues asked Griffith whether his proposal would simply place burdens on overworked, underpaid, members of an understaffed agency. Griffith agreed those are concerns for the Division, “but I think that there are resources that are available to [the Division] which are not being utilized to the fullest. I think if we can utilize these agencies … those are a resource that they can use … and we already have them under contract.”

Sarah Bashore with the Central Missouri Foster Care and Adoption Association told the committee that her agency, serving 24 counties, helped find family members for 34 children in state care in the last two quarters of the last fiscal year. She said it could help even more children, but the Children’s Division hasn’t being asking.

“We don’t receive the referrals like we should, for being a contracted agency. They’re paying for our service but they’re not always using it,” said Bashore.

She believes as employees with the Division leave and are replaced, those new hires simply don’t know that her agency and others like it are available, or how they can be used.

Bashore said her agency and others are simply more capable and have more resources than Children’s Division for doing the kinds of searches that Griffith’s bill would require, and with compelling results.

“The search engines that we have … it’s not as time consuming as one might think,” said Bashore. “With our program that we run and are contracted with, it’s called 30 Days to Family, we’re able to find at least 80 relatives if not more. Our average this last year has 115 relatives, and we do that within 30 days.”

Bashore added, there could be an additional benefit to the state if more children were placed with family members rather than in foster care.

“For a child to remain in foster care it’s more than $25,000 a year,” said Bashore.

The committee has not voted on Griffith’s proposal.

‘Prison nurseries’ proposal would let incarcerated mothers bond with newborns in prison

Women in Missouri prisons might not have to be separated from their newborns under a bill being considered for the legislative session that begins in January.

Representative Bruce DeGroot (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

The plan would allow some women who are pregnant when they are about to be incarcerated for short sentences to have their babies with them in prison so that they can bond with their newborns. The idea is being referred to as the establishment of “prison nurseries.”

Missouri Appleseed is an organization helping drive the effort. Director Liza Weiss said some other states already have such programs, and some of those have been in place for years.

“These programs last for a variety of times from three months to three years,” said Weiss. She said women who have release dates falling within the given length of time and meet regulations set by the Department of Corrections, “would be able to participate in this program and live with their child, with their baby, in a separate area of the prison and care for the baby and bond with the baby, and then leave prison together with the baby, and be able to be a parent to the child.”

Representative Bruce DeGroot (R-Ellisville) will sponsor one version of the proposal. He thinks it’s simply good government.

“I think that once that bond forms, when these women get out they’re naturally going to want to take care of that baby and start doing the right things with their lives, and that’s why I’m so excited about this bill,” said DeGroot.

Representative Curtis Trent (R-Springfield) plans to sponsor similar legislation. He said the results seen in other states are encouraging.

“Women and children do better, both in terms of mental health, the bonding of the child to the mother. There’s also some indication that recidivism rates are lower in the long run, and of course there’s savings to the taxpayer as well. If you take the child from the mother and put it into the foster system that’s a very expensive process.”

“Research on the development of the child has been very positive as well,” said Weiss. “We realize this would be a change for the Department of Corrections, but we do think it would really be a win-win for the women and the babies.”

The Department told House Communications that right now when a woman in a Missouri state prison gives birth, that baby goes into foster care or with a family member.

Representative Curtis Trent (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Currently, pregnant women are housed at the prison in Vandalia. As of early October, 23 had delivered babies. In 2016, that number reached 73, but decreased to 49 in 2019 and 31 last year. The Department notes that in the last 4 years Missouri’s population of incarcerated women has dropped by 42 percent.

Representatives DeGroot and Trent are still developing draft language for their bills, and DeGroot said the Department of Corrections is involved. He expects to propose that the program be available to women whose sentences are for up to 18 months.

“The [woman has] to be a model prisoner. She has to either have a high school degree or equivalent, or [be] working on that while in prison. And, they have to remain a model prisoner, and they have to engage in pre- and post-natal classes so they learn how to take care of that baby.”

DeGroot said he also views this as a “pro-life bill.”

“I don’t know how many women who are scheduled to go to prison would actually consider aborting that baby before they got there, but I think this provides an incentive and peace of mind knowing that you’re going to be able to keep that baby and get that mother-baby bond while you’re still incarcerated … we’ve given some real hope, if this bill would get enacted,” said DeGroot.

Not only is it anticipated the idea would save the state money, Weiss said she thinks it could be entirely supported by outside donations and grants.

“Missouri Appleseed has already been approached by several charities and foundations who’ve said this is something they’d be very excited about to support,” said Weiss. “And part of the draft language from Representative DeGroot’s bill does create a fund in which grants from foundations and donations can be accepted by the state, too, to fund and sustain the nursery.”

Legislators can begin pre-filing legislation on December 1, for the session that begins in January.

Pronunciations:

DeGroot does not include the “oo” sound = [de-GROTE)

Weiss rhymes with mice = [wice]

House members frustrated by Department after report on missing foster children

Missouri House members aren’t pleased with a lack of answers from the Department of Social Services in the wake of a federal report slamming its lack of response when children in foster care go missing.

Representative Mary Elizabeth Coleman (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

The U.S. Department of Health and Senior Services’ Office of the Inspector General report is based on 2019 data and was released last week. It said the state does not properly report when children are missing and doesn’t do enough to keep them from going missing again, if they are found.

“I was shocked by the scope of the report but I was not surprised by the content,” said Representative Mary Elizabeth Coleman (R-Arnold), Chairman of the House Committee on Children and Families, which met Tuesday in response to that report.

That study found that 978 children went missing from state care at some point during 2019. In looking closely at the handling of 59 cases of children missing from foster care, it found that in nearly half there was no evidence that the state had reported those children missing as required by law.

Department of Social Services Acting Director Jennifer Tidball and Children’s Division Interim Director Joanie Rogers testify to the House Committee on Children and Families (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

The Committee heard testimony from Department of Social Services Acting Director Jennifer Tidball, who said many of the policy issues cited in the report stemmed from a previous administration. She produced a 2016 memo from then-director Tim Decker that allowed caseworkers to quit some practices and documentation, some of which she says has been resumed since 2019.

Coleman and other lawmakers were frustrated by what they saw as a “passing of the buck,” trying to blame that earlier administration, and a failure to follow the law and to implement programs the legislature has authorized to help the Division keep foster kids safe.

“If the tools that have been given by the legislature have not been utilized and if the state and federal laws are not being followed because it’s the policy of the department, what enforcement mechanism could the legislature use to induce you to follow state and federal statute?”

The top Democrat on the committee, Keri Ingle (D-Lee’s Summit), said Tuesday’s hearing was beyond frustrating.

“What do we do if our own departments are telling us that they’re not following state and federal law and they’re not following their own policies and they’re not taking us up on additional resources when we’re offering additional resources?”

Coleman said she was troubled that the Department did not today provide much information outside of what was in the federal report and even challenged its findings. She said the next step will be to hold a hearing focused on possible solutions.

“We’re going to continue to work and see what pressure we can put on the Department to continue to follow state and federal law. The committee will continue to hold hearings. We’ll probably have one more and then we’ll have a report with recommendations and I would think that you’ll see legislation that comes out of this process,” said Coleman.

After Tidball’s testimony the Committee heard from several child welfare advocates, offering their response to the report and possible responses, however Tidball and her staff left the hearing shortly after she spoke.

Foster reforms aimed at giving more children permanency sent to governor

The legislature has proposed several measures meant to give more Missouri children a chance to get out of the foster care system and into permanent homes, and to help foster and adoptive parents afford the costs of caring for and adopting children.

Representative Hannah Kelly watches as fellow legislators cast votes for one of the two foster care reform bills she sponsored. (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

House Bills 429 and 430 were agreed to this week and now await action by Governor Mike Parson (R), who lawmakers say has indicated support for them. Mountain Grove Republican Hannah Kelly sponsored both.

HB 430 would expand current tax credits for the adoption of Missouri children with disabilities to be available in any adoption, while giving priority to instances involving Missouri children with disabilities. Kelly said of a program capped at $6-million a year, less than $30,000 was claimed last year.

She said by allowing a broader offering of this credit, more Missouri children will have the opportunities for permanent families.

“When people say it should stay to be Missouri children. Well if a Missouri family wants to adopt a child then that’s a Missouri child in my mind,” said Kelly. “If you’re a Missouri taxpayer we’re going to support you in your effort to open your home and your heart to children in need.”

HB 429 authorizes an income tax deduction for expenses related to providing care as a foster parent.

It also creates a “Birth Match” program. It would require the state Children’s Division and the State Registrar’s Office to compare birth reports with information on parents who have been convicted of certain crimes. When parents have history of the specified crimes, Division personnel will make contact with the family to see if any action is appropriate.

This could include seeing whether any crimes are being committed, but Kelly said in a broader sense it is about seeing whether the family is in need of any of the types of assistance the state could facilitate.

“Birth Match is intended to match the families with the services to prevent a repeat of previous situations,” said Kelly. “If you can step in and offer services, whether that be parenting classes, whether that be … do you need to be signed up for Medicaid … do you need prenatal care … do you need, OK you need a washer and a dryer.”

“That is the heart of Birth Match, is to allow government departments to communicate faster … in regards to ensuring the overall outcome is safety of baby and mom and dad and whoever else is in the picture,” said Kelly.

HB 429 also increases the age threshold for abandoned infants and children from one year or under to under three years old. It sets a time frame of six months before a petition of termination of parental rights is considered in cases of neglect by a parent.

Foster care reform is a priority for House Speaker Rob Vescovo. (Photo: Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

Kelly said by restructuring this and other parts of law, impediments to giving a child a permanent home are removed.

“The research was showing us that [children] were getting ‘caught in limbo,’ is the best way to put it,” said Kelly. “This is expected very much to help make sure that kids don’t get stuck in what can feel like forever being hung between, ‘Okay, I know that I’m abandoned by my bio-family but I also need a termination of parental rights process to happen before my family who wants to adopt me can officially be my adoptive family.”

Kelly credits House Speaker Rob Vescovo (R-Arnold) with making the legislation a priority, which pushed these bills to be the first non-budget measures sent to the governor this year. She said not only did he make these issues priorities, he bravely, publicly shared his own personal story of having been in Missouri’s foster care system as further evidence of the need for reform.

“His willingness to tell his story; his willingness to lay it out there and personally exemplify why this matters has been huge,” said Kelly.

The legislation received overwhelming bipartisan support. The final House vote on HB 429 was 127-8; the vote on HB 430 was 142-0.

House Committee advances foster care, adoption supports

A House Committee has voted to make adopting or fostering children in Missouri easier, with its support for two bills that are early-session priorities for chamber leadership.

The House Committee on Children and Families unanimously passed House Bill 429, which would authorize an income tax deduction for foster care expenses; and House Bill 430 which would expand the state’s existing $10,000 tax credit for the adoption of children with special needs to any adoption.

Representative Hannah Kelly (photo: Ben Peters, Missouri House Communications)

The bills’ sponsor, Representative Hannah Kelly (R-Mountain Grove), said both proposals have been stalled in past years but are priorities of House Speaker Rob Vescovo (R-Arnold).

“Because of Speaker Vescovo’s leadership we are looking at sending this thing to the House floor, sending it to the Senate right away, and it’s just awesome,” said Kelly. “Today doesn’t have anything to do with Hannah Kelly, it has to do with Speaker Vescovo’s leadership and people who have gone on before me and plowed the ground.”

The proposed tax deduction for foster care would begin January 1 and continue for six years unless extended by the legislature. Parents who foster children for at least six months would be eligible for a deduction of up to $2,500, or $5,000 for a couple filing jointly.

Those who foster for fewer than six months could apply for a prorated deduction. Kelly said extending help to those foster parents is no less important.

“Sometimes children need a safe place for just a few weeks while mom and dad get a house cleaned, or while they take certain trainings, or perhaps they simply need a temporary place to stay while they find a permanent placement, and so this also allows to be supportive to the foster parents who provide that respite care, that temporary place,” said Kelly.

Kelly said anything that makes it easier for a child in foster care to be adopted isn’t just good for that child, it makes financial sense for the state.

In the case of her own daughter, who she adopted last year at the age of 18, “If she would have stayed in the system she would have stayed there until she was 21 … from a financial standpoint … the state would’ve spent $21,000 just as a base amount, before she aged out of the system.”

Vescovo, who was adopted out of foster care, called on House members last week to join him in expanding the adoption tax credit.

Missouri House Speaker Rob Vescovo (photo: Ben Peters, Missouri House Communications)

“Together we can make adoption a possibility for many families who may not have the money but have the love and support to give a wonderful life to a person in need.”

He also asked for members’ support for foster care reforms, including a tax deduction, “which can encourage more Missouri families to open their doors and their hearts to our young people in need.”

“We know we have more than 13,000 kids in the foster care system and more enter the system every year. We must take every step possible to give each and every one of these kids an open door of opportunity so they can grow into healthy, productive adults,” said Vescovo.

With the committee’s action today, those bills will go before another committee and could be heard by the full House next week.