The Kansas Department for Children and Families has announced plans to ask for more funding and hire more personnel to improve services to troubled children.
Secretary Gina Meier-Hummel in a news conference Monday said the department plans to request $23 million in funding and hire as many as 200 unlicensed personnel to take child protection jobs the state has not been able to fill with licensed social workers.
As a result, Meier-Hummel says the Legislature will be asked for $7.2 million to pay the new employees and make upgrades to computer technology. She contends it still remains a preference to hire licensed workers, but won’t compromise safety and says it’s more concerning to not have the positions filled. Currently, there are about 30 percent of child protection services positions vacant.
Meier-Hummel says the agency is being more aggressive in tracking down foster care children who have gone missing.
The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that DCF contractors had continued to allow hard-to-place foster children to sleep in their business offices, which Meier-Hummel and the governor have both declared unacceptable. More than 100 Kansas children removed from their homes has slept in offices of state contractors in just the past four months.
