2 days Ago By Kansas City Star
Attorneys who filed a 2018 class action lawsuit on behalf of Kansas foster children say the state failed to improve stability and mental health services for kids in care. And because of that, they say they’ll soon meet with leaders of the Department for Children and Families and share their frustration as well as their plan to go forward with mediation if changes aren’t made. They could then go back to the court for further guidance.
“We don’t see things moving in the right direction and we’re very disappointed,” said Teresa Woody, litigation director of , one of four entities that filed the class action lawsuit which led to a court settlement the state is now under. “I just think whatever they’re doing is not working. .
.. The foster system is still failing children.
” Woody and other attorneys involved in the suit shared their concerns and plans for ‘next steps’ with reporters Tuesday. The briefing came a day after a new report showed that for the third year in a row, DCF failed to meet the requirements of agreement and in some areas took a step back. In fact, the report of an independent monitor showed that of the 14 benchmarks the state must meet to get out from under court oversight, DCF only met four during the 2023 calendar year.
One wasn’t able to be measured, another was in progress and eight were not met. The year before, the state failed to meet six benchmarks. The recent report by the showed that fewer children were in stable placements during 2023.
The rate at which children moved between placements increased and children were still sleeping overnight in child welfare offices. The report pointed out that Kansas has made improvements in some areas. But the independent monitor also found that the state is far from meeting the majority of the final targets within specified time frames.
DCF Secretary Laura Howard said she, too, was disappointed that more benchmarks weren’t reached, but she said she’s seeing improvements in 2024 that should be highlighted in the next progress report a year from now. Howard said she understands the passion that attorneys and advocates have in wanting to see improvements in the system. “I’m just doubly committed to focus on those areas where we haven’t seen the progress we’d like to see,” Howard told The Star.
“I want them to know that I’m committed, the governor’s committed, to continuing to make those reforms. “And I believe our contractors are too.” ‘Close to taking next steps’ Local advocates and two national children’s rights organizations alleging that some children in Kansas had been treated so poorly that they had suffered mentally or run away from foster homes.
In some cases, the class action suit said, they had been trafficked for sex, sexually abused inside adoptive homes, or in one instance reportedly raped inside a child welfare office. The goal of the suit wasn’t to receive money, but to fix the system for these children and others who come after them, the attorneys who filed the lawsuit have said. The benchmarks laid out in the settlement include measuring whether the state tracks youth incarcerations and worker and supervisor caseloads and require DCF to aim to provide stable placements for foster children and access to mental health services.
On Tuesday, the attorneys said when they speak with DCF leaders, they’ll be clear on expectations. “We’d like to see them bringing in outside experts, because it doesn’t seem like the state is really capable of making the changes that need to be made,” Woody said. “We’d also like to see a lot more oversight of the contractors and see some showing that DCF knows what the contractors are doing and requiring the contractors to make plans.
“But unless that happens, we’re pretty close to taking the next steps.” As of earlier this summer, five nonprofit contractors handle foster care in the state. If the case goes to mediation, a third party would work with both sides to see what the state needs to do to meet the obligations of the settlement agreement, attorneys said.
Leecia Welch, deputy litigation director of Children’s Rights — which was — said the work of the independent monitor provides crucial data that the state must use to improve the system for kids in care. “They have the ability to make some changes in how they’re operating,” Welch said during Tuesday’s briefing, “and to really zero in and understand the children whose needs are not being met way better than they’ve ever been able to understand those children before. “And I really hope they take that opportunity and dig in and do that analysis and look at the recommendations made by the experts at CSSP (Center for the Study of Social Policy) and decide, you know, where they want to focus their energy.
” Woody said that everyone should take notice of what’s happening with the foster care system in the Sunflower State. “What we hope people will take away from this is that, you know, this is everybody’s problem,” Woody said. “These are Kansas’ kids, and everybody needs to be shocked by what’s happening, and everybody needs to be dedicated to try to find a solution for this.
“And that’s the legislature, the systems, the contractors. ..
. Everybody should be outraged that these kids are not being put in a position where, you know, they’re not only not thriving, they’re being damaged.”.
