Among Gov. Jay Nixon's $115 million line item restrictions to the state budget were increased funding for foster care, adoption and to combat child abuse.
The Missouri Legislature appropriated $408,000 for 10 additional Children's Division field staff workers to respond to child-on-child sexual abuse cases. Legislators passed a bill during the 2015 session allowing the state to investigate claims of sexual abuse by one minor to another, and it became law in August that year.
Emily van Schenkhof, deputy director of Missouri Kids First, said the Children's Division receives thousands of these calls, and more staff is needed to follow up with family assessments. These front-line workers, she said, were the most important line item in the fiscal year 2017 budget.
"These are the people who come into really tough situations and save children's lives," van Schenkhof said. "These are the folks who make a difference between a child living and dying."
Children's Division field staff currently is overloaded, she added.
"They need a reasonable workload so they can do their job well," van Schenkhof said. "I feel like we're setting them up for failure if we don't adequately fund the amount of staffing that is needed to address the problem."
Nixon also restricted more than $700,000 to several foster care and adoption services - one of which will directly affect Mid-Missouri youth. The number of children in Missouri's foster care system is at a historic high. In June, 13,451 children were in the system, according to the Department of Social Services.
The restriction of $400,000 in adoption services prevents the state from aiding the Central Missouri Foster Care and Adoption Association in its Extreme Recruitment program, which was supposed to be implemented in September.
Lori Ross, executive director of FosterAdopt Connect, said the Extreme Recruitment program is a "proven model for effective recruitment" in placing foster care children at risk of aging out of the system into adoptive homes. The children are about 12 years old or older and typically have behavioral, mental and/or physical health issues, qualifying them as hard to place.
The program has been highly-effective in St. Louis, Kansas City and Springfield, she said. Children in Extreme Recruitment are placed at a 80-90 percent rate compared to 30 percent of non-participating children.
Adoption resource centers will also not see increased funding appropriated for trauma-informed training, which Ross said would provide parents - foster, adoptive, relative and kinship - and social workers the latest information on handling children with multiple and complex traumas.
Dan Haug, acting state budget director, said these budget restrictions were to increases or new programs and will not have an impact on current services.
"Social Services and the Division of Youth Services and the Division of Children's Services have really done a great job over the years - in fact, they're nationally known for a lot of the thing they do," Haug said. "I have full confidence that they're going to be able to make sure that our foster kids, and other kids at risk, are taken care of in the best way possible."