By Steph Quinn
The bill, sponsored by Republican state Sen. Jill Carter of Granby, would direct the Missouri Department of Social Services to set up the program. It would also create a program aimed at strengthening communication access services for deaf, deaf-blind and hard of hearing Missourians.
The House passed the bill 125-9 with bipartisan support.
Republican state Rep. Melissa Schmidt of Eldridge, the bill’s handler in the House, said the legislation could “reduce placement of children in foster care and provide a pathway for stronger, more self-sufficient Missouri families.”
Schmidt said it could also decrease state spending on welfare programs, calling it “a budget reduction proposal.”
The bill would direct the department to build a case management system to refer Missourians experiencing “barriers to self-sufficiency” to participating faith-based groups and nonprofits.
The House also removed a provision, added onto Carter’s bill by Republican state Sen. Lincoln Hough of Springfield, that would have required the House and Senate budget chairs to approve any state contract worth $20 million or more.
Carter did not respond to a request for comment on the House amendment.
Democratic state Rep. Keri Ingle of Lee’s Summit, a former child abuse investigator for the Missouri Children’s Division, said a similar pilot program in Jackson County helped families find the resources they needed to address concerns of neglect and keep kids from being placed with strangers.
In many cases of reported neglect, Ingle said, “these were simply resources that the family did not have.”
“When [the child’s] safety can’t be ensured at home and we’ve got a potential family member we can place them with instead of putting a child in foster care,” Ingle said, “what if they don’t have enough beds? What if they don’t have car seats or reliable transportation?”
When people found out about these needs, Ingle said, they “really leaped to that opportunity.”
Carter’s bill is modeled on the “Hope Florida Foundation,” launched by Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis in 2022. The initiative has been clouded by allegations uncovered by journalists that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis diverted a $10 million Medicaid settlement payment through the foundation to fund political committees opposing abortion and recreational marijuana ballot measures.
Democratic state Rep. Wick Thomas of Kansas City, who voted against the bill, said they were concerned Carter’s bill could give rise to similar corruption.
“I do hope that if it does go through, safeguards are put on it so that a situation like what happened in Florida can’t happen in Missouri,” Thomas said.
The bill would also establish a one-year task force of lawmakers to oversee the program — a provision Schmidt said is intended to “ensure we ha[ve] solid guardrails in place.”
Services for deaf Missourians
A provision added to Carter’s bill by Democratic state Sen. Patty Lewis of Kansas City would create a program within the Missouri Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing to improve access to interpreters, translation services and open or closed captioning in businesses and state agencies. It would include a registry of communication access providers in the state and provide consultation and training to organizations working to improve their accessibility.
The federal Americans with Disabilities Act requires businesses and public entities to provide free, timely communication services.
But deaf and hard of hearing witnesses who testified during a House committee meeting in April said communication services are also absent. They said businesses often told them they couldn’t afford to hire interpreters.
Speaking through an interpreter, Crystal Rush, an executive assistant at the commission, told lawmakers that when her father’s hospice care provider learned that her family would need an interpreter, they were told they’d have to wait a month for service.
During that time, Rush said, her father’s health rapidly declined.
“We didn’t have any idea if he was suffering,” Rush said. “We were left alone, and it wasn’t because there wasn’t help that existed. It was simply because there was no communication access available.”
Rush’s father — the only member of her family who was hearing — died from dementia days before hospice providers were scheduled to arrive.
When Rush and her family called 911, they struggled to communicate with emergency personnel.
With an interpreter, Rush said, her family would’ve been supported through their shock and grief.
“Communication,” Rush said, “is a human right.”
(Photo by Annelise Hanshaw/Missouri Independent)
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