State Sen. Jamie Burger co-sponsored legislation to ban the state’s practice of seizing foster kids’ benefits (Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent).
Missouri’s social services agency would be prohibited from seizing Social Security benefits from foster kids under a bill that won unanimous support in the Missouri Senate Thursday.
The bill, which was expanded to include numerous other foster care proposals, now goes back to the House, where it passed earlier this year.
The House can send the new version directly to Gov. Mike Kehoe to be signed or vetoed.
“This is a kids’ win bill,” state Sen. Jamie Burger, a Republican from Benton who sponsored the legislation, said on Tuesday. “There’s many aspects of it. There’s many senators that have been involved.”
Missouri’s child welfare agency takes millions of dollars each year in foster children’s benefits and uses the money to help pay for foster care. In fiscal year 2024, Children’s Division spent over $10.6 million in children’s benefits. Over 1,200 foster kids were receiving benefits in Missouri of late last year, or just over 10% of all kids in care.
As a result, kids who are orphaned or have disabilities are responsible for paying toward the cost of their care in state custody.
The bill, which was also sponsored by state Rep. Melissa Schmidt, a Republican from Eldridge, would ban the state from using those benefits to pay itself back for routine foster care expenses. Instead, the division could use the funds for the child’s “unmet needs” beyond what the division is obligated to pay, such as housing as the child prepares to age out of foster care.
It’s long been a common practice nationally to take foster kids’ benefits, but it’s come under increased scrutiny over the last few years. Several states, including Arizona, New Mexico and Oregon, have halted the practice.
The effort to ban the practice won bipartisan support during last year’s session and was on the precipice of passing. But it died when GOP infighting forced the state Senate to adjourn early.
House Speaker Jon Patterson pledged earlier this year that this legislation would be the first bill sent to the Senate, highlighting the issue as legislation that “should have been passed but fell victim to our inaction and politics.”
Other proposed changes
The Senate added several provisions to the bill related to child welfare. Many of them were similar to amendments tacked onto another child welfare bill last week, and some had been slightly tweaked in ways that resolved opposition to the prior bill.
One provision would ban marriage in Missouri for anyone under 18. That proposal also passed the Senate as a standalone bill. It also would void non-disclosure agreements in child sex abuse cases.
The bill also includes a proposal by Republican state Sen. Travis Fitzwater that would assign foster children 14 and older to client-directed attorneys, meaning they would be required to act based on the goals of the children. Currently, foster children have guardians ad litem, who are attorneys tasked with acting in what they view as the child’s best interest.
The shift would be subject to appropriations, go into effect in 2028 unless a county opts into a pilot program, and the judge would still have the discretion to continue the guardians ad litem appointment.
It would also require DSS to build a program of residential care for youth with severe behavioral challenges currently being held in inappropriate placements.
Other provisions include:
- Increasing a tax credit for donations to certain youth programs;
- Clarifying that parents allowing children to engage in appropriate independent activities without supervision would not be considered abuse or neglect;
- Changing the criminal offense of endangering the welfare of a child in the first degree, by raising the age of a child from “under 17” to “under 18”;
- Requiring Children’s Division caseworkers to present identification of themselves when conducting investigations of child abuse and neglect, and inform parents of their rights;
- And requiring the Children’s Division to take into consideration the religion of the foster child when determining placement, in order to ensure children are in households of a similar religion to their families’ when practicable.
Sen. Patty Lewis, from Kansas City, on Tuesday praised the bipartisan effort.
“I love it when we come together,” she said, “especially with the kids.”
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