Latest Kansas foster care report describes big problems, potential for improvement

Kansas Department for Children and Families secretary Laura Howard speaks at a May 14, 2024, celebration of new legislation to expand placement options for teens in foster care. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

An independent review of Kansas’ foster care system has found some significant shortcomings.

For starters, too many kids lack timely access to the mental health services they desperately need. Too many children are still spending nights in their caseworkers’ offices because there’s nowhere else for them to go. And as crazy as it sounds, it’s not unusual for kids to find themselves parked in eight different homes or facilities in their first 1,000 days in the system.

None of this is acceptable.

The review, conducted by the National Center for the Study of Social Policy, is part of a 2018 lawsuit in which a group of child advocates, led by Kansas Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, accused Kansas of neglecting children in its foster care system. The group asked the court to order repairs.

In 2021, the two sides formally agreed to have the center objectively measure the state’s performance. Eventually, the court will decide whether to intervene.

Clearly, Kansas’ foster care system has its flaws, but it’s not as bad as it used to be. Consider this: Six years ago, in the waning days of Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration, there were 7,500 kids in foster care settings. Today, there are about 5,800.

This is an amazing feat. Arguably, it has taken Kansas Department for Children and Families secretary Laura Howard six years to rebuild an agency that had lost its purpose under previous secretaries. Howard has her critics. But no one is calling for a return to the “good ol’ days” when Rob Siedlecki or Phyllis Gilmore were running the show.

The system’s troubles have long been tied to caseworkers being expected to keep tabs on 25-30 youngsters, sometimes more. That’s way too many. The report noted that in 2023, one of the state’s contractors, TFI Family Services, had a whopping 41% of its caseworkers overseeing 30 or more kids.

Saint Francis Ministries wasn’t much better: 36% of its workers’ caseloads exceeded 30 children.

This is an embarrassment.

But on July 1, DCF began requiring the system’s contractors to limit their workers’ caseloads to no more than 15. While the effects of this long-overdue change won’t be measured until next year’s review, it could mark the start of a huge improvement, but only if this requirement is met by each contractor across the state.  Contractors will have to hire more workers and spend more money, but this is one of those times when you have to spend more to get more.

In March, DCF launched an initiative to increase access to therapeutic family foster homes to provide 24-hour care for children with serious emotional, behavioral, and medical needs. This could reduce the numbers of high-need kids spending the night in offices, but only if strongly implemented in a way that leads to a significant number of new placements.

At the same time, DCF is beginning to use Medicaid funds to underwrite mental health initiatives designed to help families care for children with serious behavioral issues and, hopefully, keep them out of foster care.

Next year’s evaluation should be better than this year’s.

Or not.

There is so much that can go wrong, especially when certain legislative forces insist on poking holes in the state’s already frayed “safety net” for low-income families. A recent Kansas Legislative Division of Post Audit report called lawmakers’ attention to parallels between cuts in the state’s cash and food assistance programs and increases in foster care spending.

It’s not rocket science. When a single parent with multiple kids who’s working a minimum wage job loses their food assistance, or cash assistance used to pay the rent, the likelihood of those kids ending up in foster care increases.

It doesn’t make a lot of sense to cut off a parent’s $300-a-month welfare check only to pay one of the foster care contractors $2,000 a month for each of their kids. The audit report found that back in 2009, the state’s cash assistance program averaged 12,600 cases per month. In 2023, the monthly average dropped to 2,900 cases.

That’s a disturbing drop. Lawmakers, however, have shown little interest in loosening some of the more troubling restrictions. And they haven’t agreed to expand the state’s Medicaid program either.

It sure looks like DCF has stepped up to the plate. Let’s hope legislators see the error of their ways. If they don’t, there’s a good chance the judge will.