Missouri gubernatorial candidates pledge to boost Children's Division salaries

Missouri’s two major gubernatorial candidates aren’t going to agree on much over the next few months. But @crystalquade and @mikelkehoe say that boosting salaries for Missouri’s Children’s Division is a priority.
“I'm a big fan of making sure we have appropriate staffing… and that they have the appropriate pay.” Kehoe said on a recent addition of the Politically Speaking Hour on @stlonair.
Quade added: “It should be a priority that we're investing in, and absolutely will be one of mine as governor.”
The Children’s Division, among other things, tasked with looking into allegations of child abuse and neglect. And while staffing levels have stabilized in recent months, there’s grave concern that the Children’s Division won’t be able to retain investigators with a starting salary of around $44,000 a year.
Not only has the Children’s Division staffing woes lead to big backlogs in the agency’s St. Louis office, but the lack of staff also meant that certain regions could implement programs to steer people to drug rehabilitation while their kids stayed with relatives.
To read more of @jasonrosenbaum’s @stlpublicradio story about how Kehoe and Quade will approach increasing funding for Children’s Division and other state government agencies, go to stlpr.org.
Cover photo: @tristenrouse

[@tv-cr7vm]

id say pass on that we should get rid of all alphabet agencies