Darrell Missey, the director of Missouri’s Children’s Division, on Aug. 23, 2023, at St. Louis Public Radio’s headquarters in Grand Center (Brian Munoz/St. Louis Public Radio)
The head of Missouri’s child welfare division will resign effective Nov. 1, a spokesperson for the agency told The Independent on Monday.
Darrell Missey has served as director of the Children’s Division since January 2022. Housed in the Department of Social Services, the agency oversees the foster care system and investigates child abuse and neglect.
The division has seen frequent turnover at the top, though Missey stayed longer than many. He was the sixth director under Gov. Mike Parson, who was sworn into office in 2018. Missey’s three-year tenure is the longest for directors under Parson.
Missey previously spent two decades as a circuit judge in Jefferson County, where he oversaw the juvenile cases. He ran for judge on a platform of criticizing the incumbent circuit judge for being too willing to remove children from their families’ custody and terminate parental rights.