By AP/KWMU
Jefferson City, MO – Missouri Governor Matt Blunt is proposing $6.5 million more for the private contractors who house abused and neglected children.
The extra money would provide a roughly $10-a-day increase in the reimbursement rate.
Missouri has about 1,800 foster children in treatment centers like the Boys and Girls Town of Missouri.
Blunt says the increase helps narrow the gap, but does not eliminate, the disparity between what it costs to care for the children and what the state pays.