Published May 5, 2026 at 4:00 PM CDT

In Kansas and Missouri, more than 20,000 kids — ranging from infants up to 18 y ears old — have become part of the foster care system.

Cornerstones of Care, a mental health nonprofit, is a contracted foster care provider focused on supporting children and families in the two states. CEO Merideth Rose said Missouri and Kansas have overly relied on foster care, rather than addressing core issues more directly.

In 2023, Rose said, Missouri had about 13,000 youth in foster care. However, more than 6,000 of those kids were removed from households due to issues related to a lack of basic needs, as opposed to willful abuse, neglect or abandonment.

“The system that was created and designed to create safety and a pathway for healing and permanency for youth, in fact, has become a perpetuator of harm and trauma,” Rose told KCUR’s Up To Date.

The longer a child remains in foster care, the more likely they will experience poor life outcomes.

Cornerstones of Care is emphasizing early intervention to help keep children from being removed from their home

“We're getting in homes working with families at the onset of breaking, before what's happening in the home becomes totally broken,” Rose said.

Rose said the organization takes a curious approach to understand what’s happening in the home and if basic needs are being met.

“Our organization has asked a different series of questions, and said foster care, removal of children, has to be the ultimate last resort,” Rose said.

• Merideth Rose, CEO, Cornerstones of Care