Kansas Appleseed is working to bring reforms to our foster care system through advocacy and legal action so every Kansas kid can have a safe and permanent home.
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Establishing an Office of the Child Advocate
The foster care system in Kansas is in crisis. Too many children are being taken from their families because the system confuses poverty with neglect. The dangerous failures of our overburdened system are traumatizing kids, often leaving them without adequate healthcare and essentially homeless as they bounce between offices and temporary foster homes. House Bill 2187 would establish an independent Office of the Child Advocate. The Office of the Child Advocate would protect the rights of kids in foster care and promote best practices while ensuring accountability and transparency. Read our policy brief on the issue here. |
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Ending extreme placement instability and inadequate mental health services
Children in Kansas foster care face extreme housing instability—sometimes moved more than 50 or 100 times—and are deprived of critical mental health assessments and services. In November 2018, Kansas Appleseed, Children's Rights, the National Center for Youth Law, and attorney Lori Burns-Bucklew filed a class action lawsuit against the state of Kansas. In January 2021, a federal judge approved a settlement agreement between parties that will fundamentally change children’s lives by ending the placement practices that render them essentially homeless and ensuring access to vital mental health care services. |
Kansas Appleseed is a part of Strengthen Families Rebuild Hope, an independent coalition advocating for a better foster care system for Kansas kids. For more information about the coalition, visit www.RebuildHopeKansas.org.
In response to the number of children in foster care reaching record highs and troubling reports of inadequate protections for children in the state’s custody, we are compiling research, meeting with stakeholders, and advocating for reform.
The Kansas foster care system, in its current form, creates strains on stakeholders throughout. It is not good for children. It is not good for families. It is not good for the social workers, attorneys, judges, administrators, health care workers, or foster parents trying to keep children safe. It is not good for Kansas.
In response to the number of children in foster care reaching record highs and troubling reports of inadequate protections for children in the state’s custody, we are compiling research, meeting with stakeholders, and advocating for reform.
The Kansas foster care system, in its current form, creates strains on stakeholders throughout. It is not good for children. It is not good for families. It is not good for the social workers, attorneys, judges, administrators, health care workers, or foster parents trying to keep children safe. It is not good for Kansas.