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Child Advocacy Day Draws Hundreds to the
Capitol
Hundreds of
child advocates from around the state traveled to Jefferson
City on Tuesday, January 29th for the
26th Annual Child Advocacy Day. Despite plummeting temperatures and freezing
winds, advocates highlighted the importance of better policies
to support Missouri children. Participants had the
opportunity to meet with their Senators and Representatives,
visit exhibit booths, and attend workshops on a variety of
children’s issues. Beth Griffin, former Executive Director
of Citizens for Missouri’s Children,
Corrine Patton, former Executive Director of the Missouri Child
Care Resource and Referral Network and Deborah Scott, Director
of the Department of Social Services received the Child Advocate
of the Year Award.
Child
Advocacy Day is sponsored by the Missouri Alliance for Children,
Youth, and Families, a coalition of children’s agencies.
The primary goal of the Alliance is to organize Child
Advocacy Day. This year, the Leadership Committee consisted of
representatives from the Missouri School Age Community
Coalition, Association for the Education of Young Children of
Missouri, Association of Family and Consumer Sciences, ARCHS,
Citizens for Missouri’s Children,
LINC and the Partnership for Children.
Quality
Rating System Moves in House &
Senate
Last Wednesday both the House & the
Senate took action on bills that would establish a Quality
Rating System for early childhood and afterschool programs in
Missouri. Programs would be
rated using a five star system based on quality components like
staff education, annual trainings, learning environment, and
family involvement.
Several directors of child care programs,
business groups, education associations, and advocates testified
in support of HB 1524 (Franz) in the House Special Committee
on Family Services on Wednesday. Later in the day, the Senate
Education Committee voted 5-3 to pass SB 726 (Shields), but not before an amendment
offered by Senator Days to address the affordability of child
care was approved in a surprising voice vote. In supporting the
amendment, Senators Days (D-St. Lous) and Rupp (R-Wentzville)
expressed concerns that a Quality Rating System would cause some
low-income families to be priced out of quality child
care.
Audit Reveals Gaps in Child Care Licensing
Requirements
An audit of Missouri’s child care licensing
system issued on January 18th found several gaps that
continue to put Missouri children at risk. For
many child advocates in the state, this news did not come as a
surprise but only highlighted the fact that the state has done
little to address nearly identical problems that emerged from a
2002 state audit of child care licensing
requirements.
One of the most controversial loopholes
pointed out in the audit allows licensed child care providers to
care for an innumerate number of children related to the
caregiver without counting them towards licensed capacity. In
one instance, a woman was found caring for 15 children by
herself, but state licensing laws were not violated because 13
of the children were related to the caregiver. Under these
conditions, children are at best not getting the individual
attention they need on a daily basis, and at worst their lives
are in serious danger during emergencies like a
fire.
The audit also found that the Department of
Health & Senior Services failed to regularly follow-up with
centers operating without a license and failed to resolve
complaints against providers in a timely manner. However, the
audit neglects to point out that these findings coincidentally
occurred at the same time the department’s staff was
substantially reduced during budget cuts since
2005.
Missouri can and must do better to ensure that our children are
in safe, supervised, and caring environments. Read more about
this issue in the Kansas City Star and the St. Louis Post Dispatch.
Over 15
Bills Filed Addressing Sexual Predators
This legislative session, over 15 bills
addressing the treatment, supervision or prosecution of sexual
predators have been filed.
This week the Senate Judiciary Committee will hear Senate Bill 714 and Senate Bill 933 that address child pornography
and create stricter provisions for fighting the promotion and
possession of pornographic materials involving children and
minors. In
addition, SB 758 would prohibit certain sex offenders
from being present in a state park without permission of the
park superintendent.
The General Assembly will also discuss Senate Joint Resolutions 30 and 34, which require sexual offenders to register
with the state, even if they were convicted before the registry
laws took effect. These bills would close a gap in the current
law by making sure that every sex offender in the state is
placed on a registry list.
Missouri needs a comprehensive policy related to the
identification, prosecution and treatment of sexual
offenders.
According to a 2003 report, “A Model State Sex
Offender Policy,” from the National
Center for
Missing & Exploited Children and the Office of Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency Prevention, highlights the following
goals as they relate to state sexual offender policies. They include:
-
States should develop a comprehensive policy
regarding sex offenders.
-
Sex offenders should be correctly identified
and charged within the criminal-justice
system.
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A systematic decision-making process
regarding disposition of cases should be
implemented.
-
A sentencing structure permitting a range of
degrees of confinement and levels of supervision should be
available.
-
Treatment programs should be part of the
criminal-justice-system response.
-
Convicted sex offenders should receive
community supervision.
-
Sex-offender-registration and
community-notification programs should be
implemented.
-
States should involve victims and community
members and use individual interest and knowledge to improve
laws, education, and prevention
mechanisms.
Insure Missouri
Update
The Missouri House Special Committee on
Healthcare Transformation on Wednesday sent a letter to
Secretary of State Robin Carnahan asking her to prevent the
Insure Missouri program from starting as scheduled. The Insure
Missouri plan, proposed by Gov. Matt Blunt, would extend health
coverage to about 54,431 working parents with incomes below the
federal poverty level. According to estimates, the plan could
cost nearly $600 million by 2010, $47 million of which would be
funded by the state. Blunt has asked the Legislature for $43
million in funding for the program next year.
The state Department of Social Services has
filed an emergency rule to allow the program to begin in
mid-March, but lawmakers claim there is no emergency to justify
a quick start to the program, Representative Rob Schaaf (R-St.
Joseph) sent a memo to other legislators expressing his
displeasure with the way Insure Missouri was rolled out and
developed. In the memo, he asserts his belief that the General
Assembly never gave consent for, nor had the “legislative
intent for the program.” Schaaf asks that “the
program not be implemented until it can be fully discussed by
the legislature.”
A spokesperson for Carnahan said the rule is being
reviewed under the normal process. The House Special Committee has scheduled 32
meetings over the coming months to study all aspects of the
health care system. It is unclear what recommendations the
committee will make and what impact those recommendations will
have on the approval and implementation of Insure Missouri.
Upcoming Hearings of
Interest
Child Care Affordability Bill (SB776):
SB 776, sponsored by
Senator Justus, will be heard in the Senate Seniors, Families,
& Public Health Committee this Tuesday, February
5th, at 8:15 AM. The bill addresses the affordability
of child care for low-income working families
by:
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raising eligibility for state
child care assistance to 140% of federal poverty ($24,600 a
year/family of 3);
-
offering reduced transitional
assistance for parents up to 185% FPL ($32,500 a year for a
family of 3); and
-
raising provider reimbursement
rates for subsidized children to the most current market
rate
Child care subsidies support low-income
working families by helping them maintain employment and move
off of welfare assistance. Without child care assistance, many
families cannot afford high quality early learning opportunities
that give children a stronger foundation to succeed in
kindergarten, throughout their education, and in their adult
lives.
Children’s Mental Health (SB799): SB 799, sponsored by Senator Rita Days, will be heard on
Tuesday, February 4th at 12pm by the Senate Health and Mental
Health Committee.
This bill would require that school districts, in
collaboration with the Office of Child Mental Health, develop a
policy of incorporating social and emotional development into
the district's educational program.
Increasing numbers of children enter school
without the skills or abilities necessary to succeed, and
ongoing research confirms the need to think about
children’s readiness for school as multi-faceted. There is growing
consensus among researchers and educators that we must consider
social and emotional maturity as part of school readiness,
rather than simply focusing on a limited set of academic skills.
Children need a combination of intellectual skills, motivational
qualities, and socioemotional skills to succeed in school. They
must be able to understand the feelings of others, control their
own feelings and behaviors, and get along with their peers and
teachers. Children need to be able to cooperate, follow
directions, demonstrate self-control, and “pay
attention.”
While making efforts to improve child outcomes, we must
keep in mind that emotional development and behavioral
self-regulation are as important to early development as
learning to read. We must pay attention to the whole
child.
KANSAS
LEGISLATIVE
UPDATE
Thanks to our friends at Kansas Action for Children and the Greater
Kansas
City Chamber of Commerce for the
following updates:
Kansas Legislature Over
Budget
The House Republican leadership has
announced that the legislature had already exceeded their
5% spending
goal for the year and that no new
spending measures would be considered by the committee chairmen
until further notice.
Many within the majority caucus had hoped to see
additional funding for KU Hospital, a 4th year funding for
school finance, health care assistance for small business and
more funding for early education.
The budget committees have started examining
the Governor's budget proposals with regard to early
education. As you may recall, the
Governor proposed $27 million to begin phasing in all day
kindergarten and $23 million for block grant funding for early
childhood education. However, none of the $23 million in
additional block grant funding is made available for expansion
of the parents as teachers program. Many districts have found
that the latter program is one of the more effective early
education programs and certainly the best programs that have
been found involve those parents that are willing to
participate.
Bills Could Change Child Care Licensing
Standards
On Thursday,
Jan. 31, the House Federal and State Affairs Committee heard
more than two hours of testimony on bills that could change the
licensing standards for child care providers. HB 2003 and HB
2053 were introduced by Rep. Bill Otto (R-Leroy) last session.
Although some child care providers testified in support of the
bills - which could make it easier to care for more children at
a time - other providers passionately supported licensing
standards that prioritize the best interest of the state's
children. The hearing was not completed and it is likely that a
subcommittee will be appointed to further study the
issue.
Subcommittee
Discusses Graduated Driver’s
License
On Monday,
Jan. 28, the House Transportation subcommittee met to discuss SB
294. They discussed slight modifications to the Senate bill, but
remained committed to the essential elements of an effective
Graduated Driver’s License: requirement of a
learner’s permit for one year, as well as limitations on
night-time driving and multiple passengers during the restricted
license phase. The subcommittee will meet again soon to finalize
their recommendations to the full committee.
Fate
of Health Reform Package Uncertain
The Governor's State of the State Address
advocated passage of all 21 points of the Kansas Health Policy
Authority Reform Package. However, the first presentations to
committees did not go very well and there are rumors that parts
of the plan are being reworked or perhaps even postponed for the
year. Certainly the entire program is in flux at this point in
time.
Until Next Week,
Carrie & Emily
Policy &
Outreach
Coordinators | 
