Missouri

Facilities in Missouri

Residential facilities providing religious, behavioral, and mental health treatment to children exist in all 50 states. Some of these facilities are known to be part of the Troubled Teen Industry, while others have not yet been verified. Any facility where children live and receive care requires additional oversight. This directory helps communities monitor local programs and advocate for accountability.

Reporting abuse in Missouri

Missouri matters to this industry for a particular reason: for decades religious residential facilities operated here entirely outside licensing. HB 557, signed in July 2021, did not licence them, but it did require every license-exempt facility to register with the state and to run background checks on everyone with access to children. So a Missouri program may be licensed, registered-but-exempt, or operating in breach of the notification law - and which one it is changes who you report to.

Time limits in Missouri: a general guide

This was correct as far as we could tell when we checked it on 28 September 2026. Laws on time limits change often, sometimes every legislative session, so some of what follows may have been updated since. It is a starting point, not legal advice: please check with a lawyer before relying on any date here. A time limit on a lawsuit or a criminal charge is also not a time limit on telling someone, and most of the places listed below will still take a report.

Time limits for abuse of a child often run from the survivor's 18th birthday, or from when they came to understand what happened, rather than from the day the program closed. Many states have lengthened them, removed them for child sexual abuse, or reopened claims that had already expired. A criminal charge, a lawsuit and a licence complaint each have their own time limit, so one having passed does not necessarily mean the others have.

Lawsuits

Physical abuse or injury: Two years from the injury for assault, battery or false imprisonment. Negligence and other personal injury claims have five years. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 516.140; Mo. Rev. Stat. § 516.120(4)
If it happened before you turned 18: If the injured person was under 21 when the claim arose, the normal period starts when they turn 21: assault or battery by the 23rd birthday, negligence by the 26th. There is no longer deadline for non-sexual physical abuse of a child. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 516.170
If the program was run by or for the government: Less certain Missouri keeps sovereign immunity for the state and local governments except for injuries from vehicle operation and dangerous property conditions, so most abuse claims cannot be brought against the government entity itself; no general notice-of-claim statute was found. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 537.600
Child sexual abuse: The civil SOL for CSA, trafficking, and CSAM claims is age 31 against perpetrators, and age twenty-six against other defendants, with a discovery rule. CHILD USA's summary

Criminal charges

Physical child abuse: Abuse or neglect of a child is usually a class D felony, which must be charged within three years of the crime; if it caused serious physical or emotional injury (class B), also three years. If the child died (class A), there is no limit. The clock does not wait until the child turns 18. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 556.036(1), (2)(1); Mo. Rev. Stat. § 568.060
Assault: Three years from the crime for felony assault (first degree class B, second degree). No limit for first degree assault that inflicts great bodily harm or targets a 'special victim' (class A). Misdemeanor assault: one year. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 556.036; Mo. Rev. Stat. §§ 565.050, 565.052
Child sexual abuse: CSA: There is no SOL for felony and misdemeanor CSA offenses. Trafficking: There is no SOL for trafficking. CSAM: There is no SOL for CSAM violations. CHILD USA's summary

The injury, assault and physical abuse lines are our reading of the statutes linked, as they stood on 28 September 2026. The child sexual abuse lines are CHILD USA's summary as it stood on 28 September 2026; their page may be more current than ours. In them SOL means statute of limitations, CSA child sexual abuse, and CSAM child sexual abuse material. "Less certain" marks a line where the law is unclear or where our reading has not been confirmed, so please treat it with extra care. Exceptions, court rulings and the details of what happened can all change which time limit applies, and some of these may be longer or shorter for you than they look here. CHILD USA's statute of limitations tracker, updated as each state changes its law. A lawyer can tell you which time limit applies to you, and many offer a free first consultation.

The therapist's licensing board

Holds the individual clinician's licence and can suspend or revoke it.

Missouri Division of Professional Registration

Multiple professions

Houses the separate committees that license psychologists, professional counselors, social workers and physicians, and investigates complaints about them. Each committee can discipline the licence it issued.

Use this whenAny licensed clinician in Missouri. One form covers all of them; the committee it goes to depends on the licence.

HowAll the committees use the same complaint form, number 375-0195. Download it, fill it in, and send it to the committee that issued the licence.

Each committee publishes its own disciplinary actions, so you can check whether a name has come up before.

573-751-0018 Professional Counselors. Psychologists 573-751-0099; Social Workers 573-751-0885; Healing Arts, for physicians and psychiatrists, 573-751-0098.
File a complaint
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profcounselor@pr.mo.gov
By postDivision of Professional Registration, P.O. Box 1335, Jefferson City, MO 65102-1335

The agency that licenses the program

Inspects the facility itself and can cite, fine, suspend or close it.

Missouri Children's Division, residential licensing

Licenses residential care facilities and child placing agencies for children and youth, runs the background check requirements, and holds the register of license-exempt facilities. Unless the law specifically exempts them, private agencies providing residential treatment for children must be licensed by the Division.

It does not licence the exempt facilities, only record that they exist. An exempt program is still bound by the background check rules in 13 CSR 35-71.015 and by the duty to notify the Division that it is operating.

Use this whenThe facility. A program that never told the Division it exists is itself a violation worth reporting.

HowContact the Children's Division. Its residential licensing pages set out what a licensed and a license-exempt facility each have to do.

Law enforcement and legal channels

Child protection, the Attorney General, and the criminal side.

Missouri Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline

The statutory report line for child abuse and neglect in Missouri, staffed around the clock. A report starts a Children's Division response and can bring in law enforcement.

Use this whenA child at a Missouri program right now.

HowCall the hotline, or use the Online System for Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting (OSCR).

1-800-392-3738 24 hours a day, every day. Relay Missouri 1-800-735-2466 voice, 1-800-735-2966 text.
File a complaint
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Missouri Attorney General, Medicaid Fraud Control Unit

Investigates and prosecutes abuse and neglect of residents in Medicaid-funded facilities, alongside Medicaid provider fraud.

Use this whenA Medicaid-funded Missouri program where a young person was abused or neglected.

HowCall the toll-free line, use the online resident abuse complaint form, email or write.

1-800-286-3932
File a complaint
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attorney.general@ago.mo.gov
By postMissouri Attorney General's Office, Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, P.O. Box 899, Jefferson City, MO 65102

Oversight and advocacy

Bodies with a right to investigate, and advocates who can act for you.

Missouri Protection and Advocacy Services

Missouri's federally mandated P&A. Authority to investigate abuse and neglect where a person with a disability receives services, with a right of access to the facility, plus free legal advocacy.

Use this whenA Missouri program where the young person has a disability or a mental health diagnosis.

HowContact the intake line.

1-800-392-8667 Main line 573-893-3333; TDD 1-800-735-2966.
More about this body

National reporting channels, and the same list for other states