Missourian Katie Carlin
Professional Background
A Lifetime Devoted to Missouri's Children
Katie Carlin's path to the prosecutor's office did not begin in a courtroom. It began at age seven, when she was removed from her birth mother's care. She was placed, along with her four-year-old sister whom she had already spent years caring for, into the custody of what is now Missouri's Children's Division (MO Department of Social Services). Her grandparents opened their home and raised both girls to adulthood, formally adopting Katie in 2017, when she was twenty-three.
At ten years old, sitting down to consider what she wanted to be when she grew up, Katie decided she wanted to be a voice for children who had endured abuse and neglect. She coined a phrase that would carry her through middle school, high school, college, and law school: "You make the choice. I'm giving children a voice!" A conversation with her state representative planted the idea that a law degree could turn that conviction into action, and she has spent every year since building toward exactly that goal.
Early Achievement and Leadership
Katie Carlin's drive showed early. At Hannibal High School, she served as Junior Class Vice-President and Senior Class Treasurer, was an active member of the National Honor Society, National Technical Honor Society, Key Club, Future Business Leaders of America, and Young Patriots Club, and attended Missouri Girls State. She was nominated to the National Leadership Forum on Law and Crime Scene Investigation and the Joseph Baldwin Academy, and received honors and recognitions ranging from Missouri Senate resolutions to the George Washington Carver Award. She was nominated by both a U.S. Representative and a U.S. Senator to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point. She graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2012, supported by more than a dozen academic and civic scholarships.
Building the Foundation: Education
Katie earned her Bachelor of Science in Justice Systems from Truman State University in 2016, graduating Cum Laude. She served in leadership roles across Omicron Delta Kappa, Lambda Alpha Epsilon, Alpha Phi Sigma, Pi Sigma Alpha, and Sigma Alpha, interning with the Missouri House of Representatives and a Tenth Circuit judge. Volunteering with Adopt-A-Soldier and the Loaves and Fishes soup kitchen allowed her to better understand the needs of her community.
She went on to graduate from the University of Missouri School of Law, while there she:
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Served on the following committees:
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Curriculum, Standards and Readmissions
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Law School Climate and Culture committees
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Selected for these clinics:
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Veterans
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Family Violence
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Criminal Prosecution
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Testified before the Missouri House Judiciary Committee on child welfare legislation
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Named top student in her Advocacy, Family Violence, and Public Policy course
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Elected as her class's 3L Representative
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Awarded Missouri Bar Plan Scholarship (Given to a handful of students statewide)
After law school, while serving as an assistant prosecuting attorney, she was awarded the John R. Justice Award for prosecuting attorneys.
Katie earned her Bachelor of Science in Justice Systems from Truman State University in 2016, graduating Cum Laude. She served in leadership roles across Omicron Delta Kappa, Lambda Alpha Epsilon, Alpha Phi Sigma, Pi Sigma Alpha, and Sigma Alpha, interning with the Missouri House of Representatives and a Tenth Circuit judge. Volunteering with Adopt-A-Soldier and the Loaves and Fishes soup kitchen allowed her to better understand the needs of her community.
She went on to the University of Missouri School of Law and graduated, where she served on:
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The Curriculum, Standards and Readmissions.
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Law School Climate and Culture committees.
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Selected for the Veterans, Family Violence, and Criminal Prosecution clinics.
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Testified before the Missouri House Judiciary Committee on child welfare legislation
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Named top student in her Advocacy, Family Violence, and Public Policy course, and was voted her class's 3L representative.
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One of only a handful of students statewide to receive the Missouri Bar Plan Scholarship
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Later earned the John R. Justice Award for prosecuting attorneys.
Building the Foundation: Education
Real-World Experience in Child Welfare and Prosecution
Rather than moving straight from law school into practice, Katie paused after her first year to work directly inside the child welfare system. Believing she could not effectively write policy for children without first understanding how that system operates on the ground, she joined the Boone County Juvenile Office leading an after-school program for at-risk youth. From 2017 to 2019, she served with the Missouri Children's Division, where she personally licensed and trained foster and adoptive parents across her circuit and ensured their compliance with legal and policy requirements.
That hands-on experience convinced her the laws themselves needed to change, and it sent her back to law school to pursue the tools to do it. She has since:
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Authored law review articles and statutory proposals on foster care.
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Volunteered with the foster care organization Divine Nest.
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Founded her own nonprofit EMBRACE Children & Families (to support foster families in Missouri).
For the past five years, Katie has served as First Assistant Prosecuting Attorney for the Marion County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, where she has prosecuted cases and worked directly to keep Missouri families and communities safe. She was promoted while in this position.
A Personal Commitment That Mirrors Her Public Mission
Katie's professional work is matched by her personal life. She married John Carlin in 2022, and in 2024 the couple became foster parents themselves. In 2025, they adopted their daughter, completing a circle that began with Katie's own childhood in foster care. Few candidates for prosecuting attorney bring this combination of lived experience, frontline child-welfare casework, courtroom prosecution experience, and sustained advocacy for reforming the systems meant to protect Missouri's children.
Katie's professional work is matched by her personal life. She married John Carlin in 2022, and in 2024 the couple became foster parents themselves. In 2025, they adopted their daughter, completing a circle that began with Katie's own childhood in foster care. Few candidates for prosecuting attorney bring this combination of lived experience, frontline child-welfare casework, courtroom prosecution experience, and sustained advocacy for reforming the systems meant to protect Missouri's children.
A Personal Commitment That Mirrors Her Public Mission
Katie Carlin's candidacy rests on a rare combination of qualifications:
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Five years of active prosecutorial experience as First Assistant Prosecuting Attorney;
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Direct, on-the-ground experience inside the child welfare system as a licensed Family Development Specialist;
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A legal education focused specifically on family violence, advocacy, and public policy;
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A record of drafting and testifying on child welfare legislation;
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A lifetime of personal experience with the foster care system, both as a child who lived it and as an adult who now serves as a foster and adoptive parent. As she puts it, "Missouri's kids are our kids" — a principle she has built her entire life and career around, and one she is prepared to bring to the prosecutor's office.
Why She's Qualified to Serve as Prosecuting Attorney
KATIE CARLIN
CARES
Justice isn't just about enforcing the law—it's about protecting victims, upholding the Constitution, and serving every member of our community with integrity. Katie Carlin's commitment is built on decades of ethical leadership, fairness, and proven prosecution.
TRANSPARENCY
SERVICE
JUSTICE
COMMUNITY