2026 Policy Priorities

Kansas must address the use of secure care as a placement option for youth who struggle with elopement and chronic running behaviors, and focus efforts on nurturing placement options and the provision of resources that can provide appropriate safety, stability, and support. It is necessary to grow the availability of placements equipped with the tools needed to keep kids with running behavior in a safe home placement and with access to necessary resources to meet their needs and address the underlying cause of the behavior. If out-of-home placements must be used, keeping kids close to home yields the best results. Kansas should work to invest in making secure care options that have robust, therapeutic wraparound services regionally available so Kansas kids with high needs can remain closer to home. We must reduce the length of secure care placements to a maximum of 45 days, and eliminate extensions. No child should spend up to 180 days locked away in a secure care facility.

In 2025, Kansas began upholding foster youth’s right to have and maintain their belongings, including SSI and survivor benefits; however, we must establish this protection into law to ensure the To improve the child welfare system, Kansas Appleseed has leveraged legislative advocacy, administrative advocacy, and impact litigation to restore Kansans’ access to safety net programs, ensure full funding for child welfare prevention, and end the traumatizing conditions for kids in the state’s foster care system. state continues to uphold these rights well into the future. Currently all foster youth receiving benefits can have up to $2,000 in a Personal Needs Account (PNA); youth with disabilities can save up to $20,000 in an ABLE Account, which have spending limits, and only pay for expenses like uncovered postsecondary education costs, a security deposit on an apartment, or a vehicle to get to work. The legislature must codify a statute maintaining SSI benefits for kids in care, rather than funneling that money to the state’s foster care budget. Doing so will ensure that the impacted kids will continue to receive money meant for them, rather than being expected to fund their own care.

The Representative Gail Finney Memorial Foster Care Bill of Rights must be elevated in importance and impact, as youth in foster care continue to experience extreme instability and lack of access to resources. The state took the time to create this necessary certification of a foster youth’s rights, and it must ensure that they do not simply exist as a meaningless collection of words, but a standard that must be upheld with the utmost diligence. Kansas’ Foster Care Bill of Rights, enacted in 2023, exists to provide clear expectations surrounding the treatment and care of foster children; however, there is nothing in place to ensure these rights are adhered to as a child navigates the system. There is currently no expectation to ensure youth are made aware of these rights as they enter care. Often foster youth cite having no idea their rights are being violated, as they were not aware they were afforded these rights in the first place.