Number of US children in foster care rises for…

The population of youth in foster care in the United States has increased for the fifth consecutive year, according to a report from the federal Department of Health and Human Services. However, a national nonprofit publication said there are signs that number could be plateauing.

The annual Adoption and Foster Care Analysis Reporting System’s annual report showed 442,995 youth living in foster care as of Sept. 30, 2017. That is a 1.5 percent increase from the previous year.

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Progress on health coverage for U.S. children stalls –…

For the last decade, the U.S. has made steady progress on insuring its children — specifically moving from about 10 percent of children being uninsured in 2008 to about 5% in 2016. Troublingly, that trend seemed to go in the opposite direction in 2017, according to a recent report by the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute’s Center for Children and Families (CCF).

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Rural Missouri lagging in health coverage

Missouri’s rural areas are lagging behind their urban counterparts when it comes to health coverage – and the state’s decision to decline the federal expansion of Medicaid is a significant factor, according to a study published this month.

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