Missouri Begins Work Under Federal Grant to Strengthen Data Tools for Child Welfare Professionals

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 9, 2026

CONTACT: Baylee.Watts@dss.mo.gov

Missouri Begins Work Under Federal Grant to Strengthen Data Tools for Child Welfare Professionals

Three-year Administration for Children & Family-demonstration project will explore how existing case management data can provide frontline team members with clearer, more timely information.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Missouri Department of Social Services (DSS) is beginning a three-year effort to support the Children's Division (CD) in using data collected through its case management systems to provide team members with clearer, more timely information. The work is supported by the federal Predictive Analytics in Child Welfare Demonstration Grant, administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families (ACF).

Missouri is one of 10 jurisdictions nationwide selected to participate in the demonstration project and will receive $600,000 over the three-year project period. As the work begins, Missouri’s project will focus on identifying opportunities to best support frontline team members with these tools.  For example, the project team intends to explore synthesizing case history data and ensuring the information is in a useable format for team members to review and make decisions.

"As work begins, our focus is giving Children’s Division team members the information they need when they need it," said DSS Director Jess Bax. "Technology will never replace the experience and judgment of our team. This project is about building tools that support their work so they can focus their time and resources on directly assisting Missouri children and families.”

Predictive analytics identifies patterns in existing administrative data that can help professionals see trends and information that may warrant closer review. Missouri’s project will be designed as decision support. It will not make case decisions or replace worker and supervisor judgment, agency policy, legal requirements, or court authority.

The Children's Division will establish safeguards focused on transparency, accountability, data quality, bias mitigation, and the responsible use of analytic information alongside professional judgment. All work will remain subject to applicable state and federal privacy and confidentiality requirements.

"Children's Division professionals make complex, high-stakes decisions every day," said Children's Division Director Sara Smith. "This grant gives us the opportunity to turn the information we already collect into something more useful for the team members closest to the work. We will move carefully, train staff, monitor results and keep child safety, transparency and accountability at the center as we move forward."

The cooperative agreement is expected to begin September 30, 2026. Missouri will participate in a national learning cohort with ACF, federal technical-assistance partners, and the other award recipients, sharing lessons and promising practices to support responsible use of predictive analytics across child welfare agencies.

The award builds on Missouri's early participation in ACF's A Home for Every Child initiative and the Children's Division's broader work to reduce administrative burden, strengthen decision-making, improve placement stability and help children achieve safe, lasting permanency.

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