TOPEKA — The Children’s Alliance of Kansas will provide support for a new foster care program that expands placement options for teens by letting them stay with a family member or close friend. The SOUL…

TOPEKA — A new mandate from Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly requires federal cash benefits, like social security and disability, to go directly to foster children after decades of using them to pay for state agency…

TOPEKA — An annual, independent review of Kansas’ foster care system shows it fell short for the third year in a row of improvements to housing instability and mental health care delays. The progress report,…

TOPEKA — As Kansas officials, foster care service providers and advocates work to improve a system with a checkered past, new initiatives bring optimism for kids who have historically been left behind. The fewest number…

Childhood is a precious time in our development. We only get one and you often can’t get it back. A time when we’re the most vulnerable. A critical time where lessons are learned by our…

Kansas teens aging out of the state’s foster care system are now able to choose a primary legal guardian whom they trust to represent them best, giving them another option when transitioning to independent living.…

TOPEKA — Two years ago, Alexandria Ware and other alumni of the Kansas foster care system met with state officials and contractors to present a novel plan for providing stability to foster kids as they…

TOPEKA — Eleven youths died in the state’s often-scrutinized foster care system during 2023, according to records from the state Department for Children and Families. The department released the records through a Kansas Open Records…

TOPEKA — Kansas Department for Children and Families secretary Laura Howard on Monday said the number of children in foster care has dropped, marking some improvement in the state’s long-criticized child welfare system. “Lots of…

LAWRENCE — State systems are like egg-breakers, Sharla Smith said, using the imagery to ask whether governmental and social systems help or harm families of color.  “When you think about what systems are doing, are…