JEFFERSON CITY, MO – Today, Governor Mike Kehoe signed Executive Order 26-17, establishing the Missouri Child Welfare Task Force to further strengthen coordination across Missouri’s child welfare system by developing recommendations for a set of unified standards for child welfare safety.
“Protecting Missouri’s most vulnerable children is one of our highest responsibilities, and the people doing this work deserve clear, consistent standards across every agency, courtroom, and community,” said Governor Kehoe. “Director Bax and Director Smith are leading difficult, necessary work to strengthen the Children’s Division. This order builds on their progress by bringing the entire child welfare system together around one shared definition of safety and one expectation of accountability.”
Given the importance and complexity of Missouri’s child welfare system, the Task Force brings together representatives from the Department of Social Services (DSS) Children’s Division (CD), courts and juvenile offices, law enforcement, the General Assembly, private providers, attorneys, advocates, and child welfare experts—each with a critical role in protecting children.
Building on the transformative policy work already developed by DSS-CD, the order directs the Task Force to establish a common framework grounded in objective assessments of safety threats, child vulnerability, and parental or caretaker protective capacity. A shared understanding of child safety will strengthen coordination and promote more consistent decision-making across jurisdictions.
“The decisions made throughout the child welfare system are life-altering, and the standard guiding them should not depend on a child’s county, circuit, or provider,” said Jess Bax, DSS Director. “Director Smith and her team are doing the hard work of strengthening practices and improving consistency despite longstanding workforce challenges. This task force gives Missouri a path to turn that work into a sustainable, systemwide standard so every partner works from the same understanding of safety.”
The Child Welfare Safety Task Force is charged with:
- Developing a foundational safety definition and standards with clear criteria for determining when a child is safe or unsafe;
- Reviewing laws, regulations, CD policies, and court rules to identify gaps and recommend alignment;
- Recommending protocols to integrate the policy into daily child welfare practice;
- Developing cross-disciplinary training for caseworkers, supervisors, attorneys, juvenile officers, judges, law enforcement, and other partners; and
- Establishing common quality assurance measures and metrics to monitor statewide consistency.
The Task Force will submit recommendations, including definitions and protocols, to the Governor, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri by November 15, 2026, in advance of the convening of the 104th Missouri General Assembly. The Task Force will dissolve on December 31, 2026.
A copy of the executive order is available here.