foster care

The Division of the Child Advocate was established in October 2021 as an ombudsman's office with special attention to the cases of foster children. The office started investigating complaints last year.

The bill would bring back some penalties that were cast aside six years ago when Senate Bill 367 was passed.

Cities like St. Louis and Kansas City are gaining national attention for starting the process of reparations for Black residents, but rural areas in Missouri are taking their own steps toward righting historic wrongs. Plus: What is Kansas doing to fix the problem of runaway foster children?

More than 50 foster kids are missing in Kansas at a given time. The state said it is making progress to fix the problem, but critics say it could do more.

The Division of the Child Advocate was created in 2021 to oversee the child welfare system. Its most recent annual report is the most detailed case breakdown in the young agency's existence.

At least 12 states, including Kansas, allow children to be removed from their parents if they fail to pay the cost of foster care. But that can be hundreds of dollars a month, and it's often the poorest families who must pay.

Shayla Curts was pregnant with her third child when she was shot and killed in December. Her family says this might not have happened if Jackson County's child welfare system had worked like it was supposed to. Plus: The plan to conserve water in western Kansas and save the region from drying up altogether.

Shayla Curts, the young mother of a toddler and infant, was pregnant with her third child when she was shot and killed by a man in December. Her family says this might not have happened if Jackson County's child welfare system had worked like it was supposed to.

The child, who was only 13, ran away from agency Successful Dreams in late October.

Kansas lawmakers are holding a special meeting to review foster care issues.

Kansas in 2020 settled a lawsuit over the way the state’s foster care system treated children. Has the state lived up to its promises? Plus: A federal program aimed at helping low-income communities access food pays its own employees so little that some workers qualify for food stamps themselves.

Care for children in Kansas' foster care system has been scrutinized for years. Department for Children and Families Secretary Laura Howard says the state is making progress improving the system.