By AP/ KWMU
Jefferson City – Missouri Governor Bob Holden signed a number of changes to the foster care system into law Tuesday.
Among them are new protocols for the child abuse hot-line, enhanced background checks on foster parents and more stress on placing children with relatives.
The law also makes it harder to remove children from their parents' home and grants parents more rights in legal proceedings.
Foster care court hearings will now be open to the public.
And the state Supreme Court will have to find a way for courts to hold mandatory hearings within three days after a child is removed from a home.
Governor Holden vetoed a similar foster care revision measure last year.
Both efforts are a response to a man who was convicted of killing his foster child in Springfield two years ago.