The Kansas Department for Children and Families is set to unveil wide-ranging improvements to the state’s child welfare system Monday.
Secretary Gina Meier-Hummel will announce new foster care contracts for the state’s privatized system. The goal, according to Meier-Hummel, is to streamline services, promote safety and permanency, increase accountability and prioritize keeping families safely together. This comes after a four-month review and investigation into ways to improve foster care services, licensing, training, family preservation services, adoption support and other child welfare components.
A news conference is coming at 1:30 pm at the DCF Administration Building in Topeka.
The announcement comes after a rough year for DCF last year, with lawmakers calling for more transparency from the agency after several high-profile child deaths led to the discovery of shredded documents or gag orders. Lawmakers also called for more action from DCF with a host of children sleeping in contractor offices awaiting placement with foster families — and with others missing for weeks or months. A recent story from the Kansas City Star says both issues are still concerns with new policies set to be outlined Monday.
