Cindy O’Laughlin sworn in as Senate President Pro Tem, highlights support for Missouri children and families —
The Missouri General Assembly convened on January 8, 2025 to mark the beginning of a hopeful legislative session for Missouri kids and families. On January 13, Missouri swore in Governor Mike Kehoe, who served as lieutenant governor under Mike Parson since 2018.
Senator Cindy O’Laughlin (R-Shelbina) is also making history this session:
“I stand before you today as the first woman to ever be elected president pro tem of the Missouri Senate,” O’Laughlin said during her inaugural speech on Wednesday’s Senate floor.
O’Laughlin outlined lofty goals for the 2025 Legislative Session with a focus on children and families, including an effective child welfare system and high-quality education, and upholding the family values of hard work, responsibility, and dedication, which she says make Missouri great.
“We must support strong, healthy families; maintain access to quality education; ensure safe neighborhoods and set high expectations for the next generation,” O’Laughlin said. “We must remind the next generation of mothers and fathers that they are special, that their goals matter…”
In addition to her role as a Missouri Senator, Cindy O’Laughlin serves on the Missouri Children’s Trust Fund’s Board of
Directors. The Children’s Trust Fund, established in 1983, is Missouri’s foundation for child abuse and neglect prevention. It is a quasi-governmental agency that reaps the benefits and security of being a state agency while holding 501(c)(3) non-profit status.
The Children’s Trust Fund works with state partners and community-based organizations to prevent child abuse. One of those partners is Missouri’s Children’s Division, housed within the larger Department of Social Services. Both Children’s Division and the Department of Social Services will face leadership and appointment changes in 2025.
“Our system must become more compassionate, more hands-on and more local,” O’Laughlin said. “And, more purposeful! Removing children [from their homes] cannot remain our default response to family crisis.”
According to its caseload counter, the Department of Social Services reports that Missouri currently has about 11,300 children in foster care today, a slow but steady decline from its peak of 14,265 in 2021. Of the substantiated abuse reports in 2023, more than 50% of incidents were determined to involve neglect, followed by sexual abuse in 29% of reports and physical abuse in 25% (Child Abuse and Neglect Annual Report Fiscal Year 2023).
“Too often, instead of addressing the root causes of poverty and addiction, we criminalize them,” O’Laughlin said. “As a result, [children] are seized from their families, almost guaranteeing additional trauma and harm… families in turmoil do not need to be raided, they need to be supported…”
The Children’s Trust Fund is excited to work with its Board of Directors, the General Assembly and Children’s Division in 2025 to improve the lives and outcomes of our children.
“These children deserve secure, loving homes whether with foster families, relatives or other kinship support,” O’Laughlin said. “We must not subject innocent children to cycles of harm.”
