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Kansas foster kids need mental health care, but trying to add more is expensive
Takeaways: Kansas foster kids get too little behavioral and mental health treatment, audits find, but expanding those services can prove so costly that it slows expansion of those programs. Foster kids got mental and behavioral health treatment just 70% of the time in 2022, a lawsuit settlement found. That’s well below the 85% court-mandated requirement.…
A 15-year-old’s suicide while in Kansas foster care came amid a shortfall in mental health care
Takeaways: A 15-year-old took his own life in October while in the care of a private Kansas foster care agency. That agency, KVC Kansas, fell short of court-mandated benchmarks for getting mental health treatment for children in its care. Yet KVC actually comes closer to hitting the mark than other agencies hired by the state…
Red tape and income limits have booted 82,000 Kansans off Medicaid since May. How can they get back on?
Robyn Adams struggled to support her husband and teenage daughter on $16,000 a year during the pandemic. Then the pandemic ended and her family lost its Medicaid coverage. “We went into panic,” she said. The family relied on a temporary expansion of coverage authorized by the federal government during the pandemic to weather the bills…
In Missouri, 66% of suicides come with a gun. So groups want firearms a little farther out of reach
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call, text or chat with the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988. Even in Missouri — where politicians risk their careers talking about rules around guns — people will listen to your thoughts about firearm safety. In a place where two-thirds of the rising number of…
The pandemic put Missouri mothers at greater violence risk, even homicide — especially if they were Black
Social isolation during the pandemic put Missouri’s Black moms in greater danger that their partner would kill them. A report from the state’s maternal mortality review board found that from 2018 to 2020, homicide was the third-leading cause of death for Missouri moms. Black women made up 75% of those deaths. Among those homicides, guns…
Missouri groups look for the strongest abortion rights that voters would back
Update (Nov. 22, 2023): After two losses in lower state courts, the Missouri Supreme Court on Nov. 20 denied hearing Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s appeal, effectively ending the court battles over language for a set of initiative petitions aimed at restoring access to abortion in Missouri. The fight over the Missouri abortion ban begins…
“We’ve got hell coming”: Missourians in state prisons fear consequences of summertime heat
As heat waves sweep across the Midwest, incarcerated people in Missouri are increasingly afraid of the rising temperatures inside prisons. They live in concrete buildings that retain heat. People share close quarters, making cooling all the more difficult. As Earth’s temperatures reach their hottest recorded numbers this summer, people incarcerated in Missouri’s prisons describe conditions…
“I can’t wait.” Missouri moms face waitlists, access problems when looking for mental health care
Geornesha Clayton is a social worker. So when she was undergoing a difficult pregnancy in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, with morning sickness so severe it put her job at risk, she understood that problems could carry over after she gave birth. Her delivery was also rocky. Clayton, who lives in Kansas City, ended…
Air quality warnings have spiked in Kansas City. Here’s what it means for our health
At KC CARE Health Centers, more people of all ages have been coming in lately with symptoms associated with seasonal allergies — uncharacteristic for this time of year — and worsening symptoms of asthma. Sarah Dashwood, a physician with the center, said this concerning uptick has occurred within the last couple of weeks. The increase…
‘They don’t know why they were shot.’ New MU research shows most injured kids were hit by bullets not intended for them
With gun injuries now the leading cause of death among children and teenagers in the United States, parents and communities are seeking new strategies to keep children safe. That’s especially the case in places like Kansas City, where children too often become innocent victims of a larger gun violence epidemic. Young people are now more…
Missouri politicians make rare bipartisan stand for moms at risk of pregnancy-related death
July 7, 2023, update: This story has been updated to reflect Gov. Mike Parson’s signature of SB 45, which expands postpartum Medicaid coverage for up to a year. Missouri has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the nation. As part of a bipartisan push, lawmakers in the General Assembly took steps to reduce…
What rules and regulations about gender-affirming care could mean for the future of medical care in Missouri
Editor’s note (May 16, 2023): This story has been updated to reflect that Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey rescinded his order regarding gender-affirming care for adults and minors in Missouri. Editor’s note (May 10, 2023): This story has been updated to reflect the Missouri General Assembly’s passage of a bill banning gender-affirming care for minors…
‘We all are like one giant family’: Parents of trans children fight bans on gender-affirming care
Along with responsibilities of managing their families, parents of transgender children in Missouri find they are frequently called upon these days to clear their calendars and hit the road to Jefferson City to oppose legislation aimed at their kids and gender-affirming care. After several years spent debating bills related to the small percentage of Missourians…
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