Casey Family presentation urges Kansas changes to neglect definition, removal practice and kin-first placements

Casey Family Programs told the Kansas Committee on Child Welfare and Foster Care on an interim briefing that a fall stakeholder work group developed a multi-year roadmap to reduce unnecessary foster care entries, tighten removal standards and expand kinship-first placements.

Misha Martin, a strategic consultant with Casey Family Programs and former Arkansas child welfare director, told the committee the core team and stakeholders spent three months producing priorities intended as a three- to five-year transformation plan for Kansas. "Families and children have access to a robust array of services and support needed to be safe, healthy, and thriving without child protection services," Martin said, summarizing the group's vision.

The presentation highlighted five headline priorities that emerged from the work groups: amend the statutory definition of neglect to exclude poverty and to ensure children are not placed in foster care for truancy or primarily to receive mental-health or developmental services; improve safety and risk decision-making across agencies and reduce unnecessary family separation; review statutory removal standards including police protective custody to ensure removal is limited to imminent danger; expand and better support kin-first placements; and shorten time in foster care by removing permanency barriers and increasing family time.

On the neglect definition, Martin said Casey's national review found many states use vague or subjective language that can lead to placement for poverty-related circumstances. She noted Kansas’ statutory language already states neglect "cannot be due solely to the lack of financial means of a child's parent or other custodian," but said stakeholders wanted to examine the definition further. "Many states do have a vague or subjective definitions of parental acts or omission and do not require evidence of serious harm or immediate risk around neglect," Martin said.

Martin and other presenters urged that neglect standards focus on harm to the child and consider patterns, developmental state, parental intent and clearer guidance on emotional neglect. They recommended cross-system training and consistent, evidence-based assessment tools such as Safety Organized Practice and structured decision-making models to reduce variability in removal decisions across counties.

Martin said the work-group data showed a substantial share of removals start with entities other than DCF: "About 40% of your removals fell under partners that were not DCF," she said, and she cited roughly 364 children removed by an entity other than child welfare in the period reviewed. She and others warned that police protective custody — where law enforcement may take a child into custody for up to 72 hours under Kansas law — creates a statutory window in which a child can be separated from family before a court review or DCF intake occurs.

Deputy Secretary Tanya Keyes of the Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF) described how Kansas currently operates team decision making and Safety Organized Practice in parts of the state and provided system statistics. "For all children in care, who leave care, the average number of months in care is 25 months," Keyes said. She added that average stays were about 12 months for reunification and about 42 months for children exiting by adoption, based on November data.

Committee members asked for more detail on who makes removal decisions, what training and cultural competence protections exist, and where the state should expand after-hours DCF access for law enforcement. Keyes said DCF's central intake is staffed 24/7 to accept reports, but daytime hours are the primary window for assigning workers to make field responses; she noted local arrangements — for example in Wichita/Sedgwick County — allow law enforcement limited access to DCF case history and joint response protocols in some jurisdictions.

Martin and DCF staff both stressed kin-first placement policies and supports for relatives. Martin summarized Arkansas experience and national research showing children placed first with relatives move more quickly to permanency, experience fewer placement disruptions and have lower maltreatment in out-of-home care. She cautioned that kinship placements require supports because many kin caregivers face economic strain and limited resources.

The committee flagged next steps: members said they will schedule a data briefing on police protective custody and non-DCF removals and will take up related bills and minutes at the next committee meeting. Chair Representative Howerton announced a public hearing on HB 2075 — a bill to change the permanency review timeline from 12 months to nine months — scheduled for Wednesday.

The presentation and discussion combined Casey Family Programs’ national analysis with Kansas-specific data from DCF and stakeholder work-group findings. No formal committee votes were recorded during the session; members requested follow-up data and additional briefings.