State Budget and Programs for Children – Missouri

Missouri may slash children’s services, By Nancy Cambria, April 16, 2012, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “Heroin addiction among parents and a poor economy are pushing more children into Missouri’s foster care system at a time when lawmakers want to cut nearly $13.6 million from the state foster care budget and eliminate dozens of child protection jobs. And those aren’t the only cuts proposed for children in the Missouri Legislature’s scramble to plug budget holes for next year. A legislative committee last week proposed cutting $16 million in child-care subsidies for low-income families and an additional $13 million to encourage private day care and preschool expansion…”