TOPEKA — A 6-year-old boy in Kansas’ foster care system has spent 48 nights in an office and 40 nights in a hospital in the past three months.
“And most likely will be in my office again tonight,” said Brenda Watkins, president of EmberHope Connections, the contracted foster care agency in Sedgwick County.
She told lawmakers on the child welfare oversight committee Monday that the boy, who entered EmberHope’s care in early February, is one of 15 children in recent months who have spent at least one night in an office.
Children spending nights in offices, called failure to place, were explicitly barred under the settlement that came out of a 2018 lawsuit on behalf of Kansas foster children against three state agencies. The agreement outlined benchmarks that state agencies and foster care contractors, including EmberHope, must meet.
FOSTER CARE in Sedgwick County, home to Kansas’ most populous city, has proved more challenging than in the rest of the state. It has the most foster care providers, the most congregate care and the most foster families, but fewer than 50% of foster kids are in stable places, Watkins said.
EmberHope, despite making initial progress, has been unable to reduce its failure to place numbers.
It previously asked the child welfare committee to help fund a study to figure out how to expand foster care capacity in Sedgwick County, “but now we urge the committee to assist with finding and funding immediate solutions,” Watkins said in written testimony.
EmberHope took over as the area’s contracted case management provider in July after the Kansas Department for Children and Families ditched Saint Francis Ministries, which was plagued with accusations of fraud and inadequate resources. Saint Francis still serves parts of Kansas as one of the state’s five contractors.
EMBERHOPE serves the largest number of foster children in the state. As of March 30, more than 5,600 were in foster care, according to DCF data. From January through March, EmberHope served 1,770 kids. The organization inherited a “pretty bad situation,” said Brenna Visocsky, campaign director with advocacy and research organization Kansas Appleseed.
“But things need to change,” Visocsky said Tuesday in an interview.
Wichita is home to the highest population of families in the state experiencing poverty, and Visocsky questions what dynamics are causing so many to be placed in foster care in the first place.
“Some kids are experiencing some really significant behavioral struggles, and I worry that too often when we have conversations about those kiddos, we’re putting onus on those children, to some degree,” Visocsky said.
Instead of an overwhelmed system, Visocsky would like to see preventative measures so families can get what they need before their children enter the system. Bolstering access to social services such as parenting classes, food assistance, mental health services and housing support can accomplish that, she said.
KANSAS Appleseed was involved in the 2018 class action lawsuit against state agencies. It has also been involved in legislative advocacy including the creation of the Office of Child Advocate and supporting the SOUL family program, which allows foster children who are at least 16 years old to select a trusted adult as a caregiver, expanding options for care.
However, foster home and care facility options are dwindling in Sedgwick County, heightening the state’s placement crisis. Some facilities have implemented admission holds or decreased services, Watkins said. Those losses are deepened by inadequate staffing, a lack of social workers, an “extreme concern” for staff and child safety, a rise in cost in liability insurance, long mental health wait lists and inadequate mental health care access.
“It is very difficult to find high-quality staff who have the knowledge, skills and tools to be successful with these youth and to want to endure what a typical day may look like, you know, working with some of these kids,” Watkins said.
