Letter to the Editor: Residential care funds to finance future

As the 2006 session of the Missouri legislature gets under way, a number of bills have been filed concerning the welfare of children who suffer from abuse. Additionally, Gov. Matt Blunt has recommended an increase in funding for abused children who have been removed from their homes or for whom parental rights have been terminated and are now wards of the state in residential care. These efforts are laudable, and I urge the citizens of Missouri to support these efforts.

What happens to these children affects us all. About 1,700 children in custody of Missouri Children's Division live in group homes orresidential care.

Residential care is often the last hope for children who have been emotionally and behaviorally damaged by abuse and neglect to turn their lives around.

Thankfully, it can be the most effective treatment for helping these children learn to believe in themselves, to trust adults and develop positive relationships, and rebuild life skills that will help them succeed.

The consequences of children not being helped are devastating to communities. The monetary costs to the public are substantial. The spiritual and emotional costs to society of a life unrealized are fathomless.

I wish I had the wisdom of Solomon to know how to allocate the limited revenues the state provides so that all are covered.

I am not smart enough to know how to do that. But I do know that Missourians are smart enough to realize that the future of our children is our most valuable resource. Let's come together for these children. Let's come together for the future of Missouri and support increases in funding for residential care.

–Vincent D. Hillyer

President, Boys & Girls Town of Missouri