Kids Win Missouri’s work is making an impact on the lives of children and families. Below are a few cases studies that detail our wins and how we worked to achieve them.
Building issue-specific coalitions
Kids Win Missouri empowers professionals serving children by providing a unified voice and platform for advocacy. Collaborating with parents, providers, policymakers, and organizations, KWM champions a unified vision and shared priorities in order to create a brighter future for Missouri’s children and families.
Creating a Framework for Early Childhood Quality Improvement
271
early childhood programs participate in the Quality Assurance Report.*
*2023-2024 report
Source: DESE Website, QAR Participating Programs June 2024
Kids Win Missouri played a pivotal role in advocating for the passage of Senate Bill 638 in 2016, which authorized the Quality Assurance Report (QAR) program. Subsequently, Kids Win Missouri worked to secure funding to implement the program. The Quality Assurance Report (QAR) program serves as a cornerstone of Missouri’s strategic endeavors to fortify its early childhood system and elevate outcomes for young learners.
Empowering Communities
Kids Win Missouri launched the Child Care and Early Education Community Planning project to empower communities to develop and implement plans to address their early education challenges.
12
Communities Impacted
COMMUNITY PARTNERS
A local organization leads a diverse team of area partners to coordinate community planning efforts.
LANDSCAPE ANALYSIS
Quantitative and qualitative research on the local economic, family, child care, and early education characteristics of the community.
COST MODELING
Quantify the true cost of care associated with improving families’ access to high-quality child care and education, and identify funding gaps.
FISCAL MAPPING
Identify public and private resources that currently support or could support child care and early education in the community.
CHILD CARE & EARLY EDUCATION PLAN DEVELOPMENT
Communities are supported with assistance as they develop a plan of action to address their childcare and early education gaps.
Equipping Kinship Families with Legal Resources
1
out of
11
children live in kinship care at some point before turning 18. Access to legal assistance is a barrier to supporting children in kinship care for many families.
Kids Win Missouri, in partnership with ParentLink, secured $55,000 in funding for a pilot program to provide free legal services to at least 40 kinship families in Jackson, Clay, Platte and Cass Counties involved in non-contested guardianship The pilot aims to keep children out of Missouri’s child welfare system and with caregivers they know and trust.
Source: Missouri Chamber of Commerce,
Untapped Potential
- Of the 14,000 people in the Missouri foster care system, over half are being cared for by formal kinship caregivers
- Based on national data, it is estimated that 195,000 children are being cared for by informal care kinship caregivers in Missouri
Kinship care can be be less traumatic for children and is shown to increase placement stability; improve behavioral outcomes; preserve sibling ties; and maintain connections and cultural identity
When surveyed by the University of Missouri, Missouri Kinship providers listed legal assistance as their top need.
- 33% of participants reported that obtaining information about adoption, guardianship, or custody was somewhat or very difficult
- 22% of participants reported that locating legal assistance was somewhat or very difficult
Expanding Pre-K access
13%
Annual Roi
High-quality pre-K programs for underserved children yield a 13% annual return on investment. That's a brighter future for our kids and ourcommunities.
Source: Missouri Chamber of Commerce,
Untapped Potential
By collaborating with researchers, community partners, and policymakers, Kids Win Missouri successfully advocated for the expansion of Pre-K access for families. School districts and charter schools can now claim funding through the state education formula and access grants for children who are eligible for free and reduced price lunch.
Extending postpartum coverage
4,565
mothers benefit from extended postpartum cover age each year in Missouri.
Kids Win Missouri formed and led a coalition of child and maternal health stakeholders to successfully advocate for extending health coverage from 60 days to 12 months after a mother gives birth. This new policy supports the health of moms and babies and helps them thrive.
“Let's support mothers, let's support our children, and let's support the future of Missouri.”
- Gov. Parson, 2023 State of the State Address
Source: Fiscal Note for TAFP SB 106 (2023)
Fostering Leadership among Parents and child Care Providers
In 2022, Kids Win Missouri launched a groundbreaking early care and education (ECE) advocacy initiative. This initiative included a statewide fellowship program for both providers and family leaders, with the goal of amplifying their voices in the policymaking process.
By empowering parents and child care providers, Kids Win Missouri ensures that the needs and well-being of children and families are at the center of policy decisions.
Prioritizing Care for Infants and Toddlers
Increased child care subsidies will help more Missouri families access quality child care.
By collaborating with the Governor’s office and leveraging research on the scarcity of child care access for infants and toddlers throughout Missouri, Kids Win Missouri spearheaded advocacy efforts to increase child care subsidy reimbursement rates for infants and toddlers.
57%
of parents who voluntarily leave their jobs do so when their child is two years or younger.
Source: Missouri Chamber of Commerce, Untapped Potential
Raising Adult Prosecution Age
Kids Win Missouri united stakeholders and policymakers to raise the age of adult prosecution from 17 to 18. Through compromise and collaboration, this reform ensures minors receive the support they need while creating a system that prioritizes rehabilitation and community safety.
18
Missouri’s age of adult prosecution following passage of the Raise the Age Reform
ADVOCACY AND EDUCATION
A local organization leads a diverse team of area partners to coordinate community planning efforts.
COALITION BUILDING
Quantitative and qualitative research on the local economic, family, child care, and early education characteristics of the community.
LEGISLATIVE SUCCESS
Quantify the true cost of care associated with improving families’ access to high-quality child care and education, and identify funding gaps.
PREVENTION OF ROLLBACKS
Identify public and private resources that currently support or could support child care and early education in the community.
CHILD CARE & EARLY EDUCATION PLAN DEVELOPMENT
Communities are supported with assistance as they develop a plan of action to address their childcare and early education gaps.
Supporting Youth Experiencing Homelessness
505
unaccompanied youth under the age of 25 experience homelessness on any given night in Missouri.
Thanks to the leadership of Kids Win Missouri during the 2020 legislative session and beyond, Missouri’s youth experiencing homelessness can now have access to:
- birth certificate free of charge
- health insurance through Medicaid
- mental health services
