JEFFERSON CITY — The House approved legislation preventing welfare officials from using around $10 million of foster children’s benefits to pay for their care.

Currently, the state’s Children’s Division uses benefits granted to foster children, such as Social Security, to cover their expenses. As of October 2024, 1,267 kids in foster care were receiving some kind of federal benefit. The bill would only allow the state to use those benefits for “unmet needs” outside of what the state is obligated to provide.

House Speaker Jon Patterson, R-Lee’s Summit, targeted the legislation as a top priority. He pledged it would be the first bill to be sent to the Senate, and it was. Now, after back-and-forth between the two chambers, it’s one vote away from the governor’s desk.

Most of the debate Thursday surrounded a provision added to the bill by the Senate prohibiting child marriage. Under current law, 16-year-olds can marry someone under the age of 21 with parental consent. The provision would end that allowance.

“There are legitimate reasons for 16- and 17-year-olds to get married,” said Rep. Dean Van Schoiack, R-Savannah. 

Rep. Hardy Billington, R-Poplar Bluff, also spoke against the child marriage ban, saying he believed it would cause pregnant minors to instead seek abortions. He urged anti-abortion lawmakers who did not want to be on record as voting against the bill to leave the chamber.

House Minority Leader Ashley Aune, a Kansas City Democrat, countered that minors who are trafficked are often married against their will.

“When I spoke to the Platte County recorder of deeds, who’s a Republican, what he shared with me is how horrifying his experience is when he has to assist a young woman with their marriage certificate,” Aune said. “The look in her eyes when he knows that this is against her will.”  

Unchained At Last, a nonprofit dedicated to ending child marriage, ranked Missouri 16th out of all 50 states in the amount of child marriages per capita. From 2011 to 2018, 78% of child marriages were between a minor girl and an adult man.

Several other provisions were tacked on to the bill by the Senate and a conference committee of members in both chambers. One, voids nondisclosure agreements involving childhood sexual abuse allegations. Another increases a tax credit for organizations providing positive development for young people while discouraging criminal activity.

The bill with the added provisions was approved by a vote of 129 to 14. Eighteen members, including Van Schoiack and Billington, were absent.

Upon final approval by the Senate, the bill goes to the governor. It would go into effect at the end of August if it becomes law.

The legislation is House Bill 737.