BY: CLARA BATES
Missouri Independent

A sweeping child welfare bill that would ban child marriage and prohibit the state from seizing foster children’s Social Security benefits is headed to the governor’s desk, after the Missouri Senate gave it final approval Tuesday on a 32 to 1 vote.

The sole no vote was Republican state Sen. Mike Moon of Ash Grove. 

The bill garnered little opposition when it cleared the House last week 129 to 14, though a group of Republican lawmakers condemned the provision making it illegal for anyone under 18 years old to marry. 

“There are legitimate reasons for people 16, 17 to become married,” said state Rep. Dean van Schoiack, a Savannah Republican, who was also vocal in his opposition to the idea last year. “A pregnancy could be a legitimate reason to become married, for one thing.” 

He said he knows many couples who were married at 16 or 17 who are still together.

State Rep. Hardy Billington, a Poplar Bluff Republican, said “more babies will die” if the bill passes. 

“People at 16, 17 years old will have more abortions because they can’t get married,” he said.

Both Billington and Van Schoiack left the House chamber during a roll call on the legislation, and thus did not record a vote.

House Minority Leader Ashley Aune, a Kansas City Democrat, said the Platte County recorder of deeds shared with her “how horrifying his experience is when he has to assist a young woman with a marriage certificate, the look in her eyes when he knows that this is against her will.” 

She then turned her comments to Van Schoiack.

“And for you to stand up here and advocate for young women to be married off, it is disgusting,” Aune said. “Honestly, I can’t believe it. It’s indefensible. I can’t believe you would stand up in a microphone and say it out loud.” 

Under current Missouri law, anyone under 16 is prohibited from getting married. But 16 and 17 year olds can get married with parental consent to anyone under 21. 

Marriage would be banned for anyone under 18 under the bill that passed Tuesday. 

There was no discussion before Tuesday’s vote, but in 2023 Moon’s opposition to the child marriage ban garnered national attention when he said: “Do you know any kids who have been married at age 12? I do. And guess what? They’re still married.”

The ban on child marriage almost passed last year but was stalled by a small group of Republican critics.

The underlying bill, dealing with foster children, was sponsored by Republican state Rep. Melissa Schmidt of Eldridge, and handled by Republican Sen. Jamie Burger of Benton. Most of the provisions were added on by other members as amendments.

Among its many provisions is a ban on Missouri’s social services agency from seizing Social Security benefits from foster kids. 

Missouri’s child welfare agency takes millions of dollars each year in foster children’s benefits and uses the money to help pay for foster care. In fiscal year 2024, the Children’s Division spent over $10.6 million in children’s benefits. Over 1,200 foster kids were receiving benefits in Missouri of late last year, or just over 10% of all kids in care.

As a result, kids who are orphaned or have disabilities are responsible for paying toward the cost of their care in state custody. 

The bill would ban the state from using those benefits to pay itself back for routine foster care expenses. Instead, the division could use the funds for the child’s “unmet needs” beyond what the division is obligated to pay, such as housing as the child prepares to age out of foster care.

The effort to ban the practice won bipartisan support during last year’s session and was on the precipice of passing. But it died when GOP infighting forced the state Senate to adjourn early. 

House Speaker Jon Patterson, a Lee’s Summit Republican, pledged earlier this year that this legislation would be the first bill sent to the Senate, highlighting the issue as legislation that “should have been passed but fell victim to our inaction and politics.”

The bill also voids nondisclosure agreements in childhood sexual abuse cases. 

And it includes a proposal by Republican state Sen. Travis Fitzwater of Holts Summit that would assign foster children 14 and older to client-directed attorneys, meaning they would be required to act based on the goals of the children. Currently, foster children have guardians ad litem, who are attorneys tasked with acting in what they view as the child’s best interest. 

The shift, which would be subject to appropriation, goes into effect in 2028 unless a county opts into a pilot program. The judge in each case would still have the discretion to continue the guardian ad litem appointment. The bill also creates a commission appointed by the chief justice of the state Supreme Court to review family legal representation throughout the state, and make recommendations to bolster its uniformity and quality.

It would also require the state Department of Social Services to build a program of residential care for youth with severe behavioral challenges currently being held in inappropriate placements, by contracting with qualified service providers. This, too, would likely require funding by the legislature. 

Other provisions include:

• Increasing a tax credit for donations to certain youth programs.
• Clarifying that parents allowing children to engage in appropriate independent activities without supervision would not be considered abuse or neglect.
• Stating that the state Children’s Division cannot hold itself harmless in contracts with private service providers when there are issues resulting from the state’s negligence.
• Requiring Children’s Division caseworkers to present identification of themselves when conducting investigations of child abuse and neglect, and inform parents of their rights.
• Requiring the Children’s Division to take into consideration the religion of the foster child when determining placement, in order to ensure children are in households of a similar religion to their families’ when practicable.
• Modifying the Amber Alert system to add that the system will aid in finding not only an abducted child but an “abducted or missing African American youth.”
• Changing the criminal offense of endangering the welfare of a child in the first degree, by raising the age of a child from “under 17” to “under 18.”