A state child welfare task force is drafting legislation that would make caseworkers, juvenile officers, and judges use the same standard to decide when a child is unsafe, as reports of child abuse and neglect in Macon County climb.
The Macon Chronicle has reported on the death of Korbin Papadopoulos, 17, whom Macon County Children's Division workers placed nearly 300 miles away with a foster parent licensed only to care for relatives. It also reported on the 18-member task force Gov. Mike Kehoe named in September. Its recommendations are due Nov. 15.
On Monday, the task force reviewed a draft bill, the Missouri Independent reported. The bill would set common definitions for the Children's Division, juvenile officers, judges, and guardians ad litem. Courts would have to use the same safety framework at protective custody and permanency hearings. The draft says a child is unsafe when parents or adult caregivers cannot or will not protect the child from "present or imminent" threats that are "specific" and "articulable," according to the Independent.
The bill would also have the Department of Social Services and the Office of the State Courts Administrator create standard forms for the division's court reports and family service plans. Teri Armistead, director of the department's Division of Legal Services, said workers now fill out division paperwork plus court forms that vary from one judicial circuit to the next, the Independent reported. Macon County is in the 41st Judicial Circuit.
Children's Division Director Sara Smith said the clearer standards should reduce caseloads by moving children into permanent homes faster, according to the Independent.
The Children's Division's fiscal 2025 annual report counts 154 reported abuse and neglect incidents in Macon County, up 24% from 124 the year before. Those reports involved 248 children, up 38% from 180. Statewide, incidents fell about 1%.
Of the county's 154 completed cases, investigators substantiated 30, or 19.5%, nearly four times the statewide rate of 5.2%. Most local reports, 96, were handled through the family assessment track. Workers made first contact with the child within 24 hours in 146 cases, or 94.8%, compared with 77.5% statewide.
Thirty-two Macon County children entered state custody during the year. That works out to 9 per 1,000 children, about two and a half times the state rate. Altogether, 73 children were in Children's Division custody at some point during the year, or about 21 per 1,000 children, compared with 12 per 1,000 statewide. The largest group, 31, were last placed with relatives. Twenty-six were in foster homes.
At Monday's meeting, Kara Wilcox, the department's head of safety policy, said some staff have overused temporary placements with relatives, which state law caps at 90 days unless renewed, without first making sure parents were ready to change, the Independent reported.
The Independent's full report is at missouriindependent.com.