By Ben Embry
Kansas City, Missouri – By any measure Missouri's foster care system faces a series of daunting challenges. Applicants are down, funding is stagnant, costs are up, adoption rates have hit a five year low, subsidies are being cut and hardly a month passes without another headline detailing some abuse or neglect.
As social workers and state officials try to grapple with the issues and figure out more ways to attract qualified applicants, a potential pool of foster parents is systematically shut out of the system is based on an unwritten policy in Missouri's Department of Social Services. KCUR's Ben Embry reports.