Kansas Department for Children and Families

A court-mandated report released Monday shows that Kansas' foster care system is not only showing no improvement in key areas, but getting even worse. Foster children are still sleeping in offices, despite a lawsuit settlement requiring that stop three years ago.

Older foster children in Kansas who face aging out of care will soon be able to choose their own families. In the past, they had to sometimes choose between being adopted or keeping important foster care benefits like free college tuition.

Kansas could be the first state to pilot the SOUL Family Legal Permanency Option, which would give foster youth 16 and up a say in who supports them as they transition into adulthood. A bill that would implement the program has a hearing in a Senate committee tomorrow.

Substance abuse contributes to around 13% of Kansas children entering foster care. Now, Kansas is testing a new Family Treatment Court in rural counties that will help parents complete addiction treatment and reunite with their kids.

The private foster care agency, KVC Kansas, has fallen short of court-mandated benchmarks for getting mental health treatment for children in its care. And other agencies perform even worse.

The reports, which range from September 2022 to little more than a month before her death, warned that the child wasn’t supervised, was living in a home without utilities and was around drugs, among other allegations. A 25-year-old man has since been charged with capital murder, first-degree murder and rape.

Kansas was one of the first states in the country to access federal Family First prevention money. Programs it is funding have spent years growing.

An independent review of the state’s child welfare system published Monday shows the number of foster kids sleeping in offices last year increased by 54% compared to 2021.

Audits of the Kansas foster care system raise concerns about mental health access, unreliable data and foster kids moving between homes too often.

Missouri will now extend Medicaid benefits for new mothers from 60 days to a full year postpartum. Supporters of the new law say that without the extension some health problems could go untreated. Plus: There is only one facility in Kansas that deals with runaway foster kids. But critics of the program say it is only making the situation worse.

Problems with foster care agencies was a common reasons parents stopped fostering.

Children with intellectual disabilities and behavioral problems sometimes have more serious problems than families can handle. And the results can be tragic.