Addressing the Foster Care Crisis in Kansas Update: December 2019

In 2019, agencies, legislators, and advocates have worked to implement changes and fix the system, but there are still many children and families in our state who need help. Outcomes for Kansas’s foster care system have not yet shown substantial improvement as of November 2019. The number of kids entering care has leveled off since reaching a peak in April 2018, but there are still too many kids in the system.

The racial disparities for children entering the system are worse. Children are still staying in foster care too long and experiencing dangerously high placement instability. The system is setting up too many children to fail by not doing enough to help them find permanency and success when they leave foster care.

SFRH is made up of organizations and individuals dedicated to helping reform Kansas’s foster care system. The 2018 report identified three key problems and three primary recommendation areas. SFRH recognizes issues in Kansas’s foster care system have been building for years and cannot be “resolved over night.” But reform must still be approached with both intention and urgency. This report evaluates the changes that have taken place with respect to the identified problems and follows up on what has (or has not) been done with regards to the recommendations.