Nearly 14,000 Missouri children were in the custody of the Missouri Children’s Division in 2022, with a variety of health and mental health needs. The goal of the foster system is to provide safe and caring temporary homes for children while their family works towards their goals and reunification. Years of budget cuts have resulted in a shortage of residential care providers, massive caseloads and high turnover at the Division of Social Services, leaving Missouri’s foster care system in crisis. We’re excited to welcome Mary Chant, CEO of Missouri Coalition for Children, as our speaker for this session. We will learn about evidence-based and family-centered policy changes that would help ensure children have the opportunity to be safe, healthy and happy.
Empower Missouri’s Friday Forums are our monthly online educational offerings for Missourians to build knowledge on poverty-related policy issues and skill in legislative and grassroots advocacy. Visit our Friday Forums page for more information on other upcoming sessions and recordings of all of our prior sessions.
This session has passed, but you can view a recording below, or visit YouTube for recordings of all prior webinars.
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