Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer has signed into law a measure allowing faith-based adoption and foster care agencies to get state reimbursement for placement services even if they turn away prospective parents on religious grounds.
Colyer and the head of Kansas child welfare agency, Department for Children and Families Secretary Gina Meier-Hummel, have said they want to keep Kansas open to as many adoption agencies as possible as the state grapples with a record number of kids in foster care. As of April, there were 2,540 Kansas children in DCF custody up for adoption.
It is imperative that we have policies and law that encourages more child placement agencies, not less, said Colyer, flanked by conservative Republican lawmakers for the bill signing Friday at Youth Horizons Kinloch Price Boys Ranch in Valley Center.