Missouri politicians who claim to care deeply about the welfare of the state’s children have some odd ways of showing it.
Yes, the cultural conservatives who hold state government in their iron grip claim to be thinking of the kids as they restrict abortion rights, outlaw adolescent transgender care and muzzle school curriculum — all of which throws red meat to the Republican base but is debatable in terms of protecting children (even on abortion, given the valid debate over what constitutes a child).
But they seem far less interested in protecting children when it doesn’t push culture-war buttons for them: They allow corporal punishment in schools. They allow child marriages. They are trying to roll back child-labor laws.
Add to that the state’s chronically underfunded education and health care systems, plus fanatically loose gun laws that cost young lives virtually every week, and it’s clear that Missouri is a dangerous place to be a kid.
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Now a has confirmed that sad status.
A recent report by the New York-based nonprofit group Human Rights Watch grades each of the states against the standards of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Though the U.S. hasn’t ratified that convention — a common situation, given Congress’ institutional reluctance to yield to international oversight — few Americans would argue with standards designed to offer children protection from abuse and exploitation.
Yet Missouri scored an F, along with just 15 other states.
Missouri was cited specifically for its policy of allowing public schools to use corporal punishment against public and private school students.
That’s not some unintended oversight from a less-enlightened era. As we’ve noted in this space before, it’s a barbaric policy that the Missouri Legislature legitimized just last year with legislation specifying that schools must get written permission from parents before physically hurting their kids.
The report also took Missouri to task for allowing children to marry at age 16 with approval of one parent.
Even that standard was lower prior to 2018, when the state technically had no minimum age requirement for marriage — and had become a national magnet for 15-year-old girls who wanted to marry to prevent the adult fathers of their children from being prosecuted for statutory rape.
Not everyone is apparently on board with the principle that states should not allow child marriages. State Sen. Mike Moon, R-Ash Grove, made this year for suggesting during floor debate that children as young as 12 should be able to marry.
The report also cited Missouri law that lets children as young as 14 work in agricultural jobs. Though that’s better than the policies of most other states, it’s still below the recommended standard of 15 years.
That may not be the last word on child labor, however. Missouri’s legislative session earlier this year included an effort to extend legal working hours for teens and eliminate the teen work-permit requirement that keeps schools in the loop.
As we noted in May, those efforts are part of a national trend in red states to loosen child-labor laws — a trend backed by business interests — which is clearly designed to use kids to alleviate the tight labor market rather than pay higher wages to attract adult workers.
That legislative effort failed this time, but it would be surprising if it didn’t return next year.
After all, protecting kids in Missouri is apparently only a political priority when it serves the ideological purposes of the state’s right-wing leaders.
