The license for Carla’s Youth Residential Center in Wichita was suspended in 2018 after suspected cases of sexual and physical abuse of foster kids.
There were other concerns about poor supervision, “prohibited punishments” and unqualified staff. State and federal officials concluded that children at the home were “at risk of ongoing physical and emotional harm,” The Wichita Eagle reported at the time.
Jump forward to 2025 and issues at group homes still exist today. They are bad enough that Kerrie Lonard, head of the state foster care oversight agency the Office of the Child Advocate, is calling for additional inspections of congregate care facilities.
A congregate care facility is a building that houses children. Some serve as inpatient mental health facilities where children stay for weeks. The facilities can also offer a drop-in day program that takes children when they are between foster homes.
Congregate care buildings are typically inspected around once a year, and that inspection is usually announced and planned ahead of time.
These facilities have drug use, violence between kids, excessive force among staff and property damage, Lonard said. There’s also lax oversight that makes it easier for children to run away.
Brenna Visocsky, Just Campaign director with Kansas Appleseed, said she’s heard about issues at these group settings, but added that children don’t feel listened to when they complain. Additional inspection can catch more problems, especially unannounced visits.
Visocsky said announcing when an inspection is planned could allow facilities to temporarily fix problems, then slide back into old habits once an auditor leaves.
“I worry that when there’s a little bit of preemption, there’s like an awareness someone’s coming,” she said. “Everybody’s ready to be on their best behavior.”
It isn’t clear how many individual issues happen at the placements each year.
A 2020 investigation by the federal Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General found that a vast majority of Kansas sites surveyed weren’t following the law. That audit only looked at the 31 facilities that hold between five and 24 foster children.
The report found facilities with rodent droppings, exposed wires and mold.
Twenty-four of the 31 group homes didn’t comply with state environmental requirements, and 29 of the 31 homes didn’t have background checks or fingerprinting of employees. One home even housed men and women together despite only being licensed to house women.
Lonard’s agency investigated 49 complaints about child safety in 2024. It isn’t clear how many of those were about congregate care facilities specifically.
Requiring regular inspections isn’t supposed to be the end-all solution, Lonard said. But it is a first step toward better understanding of what is happening behind closed doors.
Rep. Cyndi Howerton, a Wichita Republican, said by email that she’d rather not change state law to require more inspections. She hopes the agencies will amend their rules to require additional inspections without the legislature needing to step in.
“However, if necessary, I am open to further discussion when the committee reconvenes in January, and I will continue to advocate for thoughtful, common-sense solutions,” said Howerton, chair of the House Committee on Child Welfare and Foster Care. “Ensuring the safety and well-being of children in these settings must remain a top priority.”
