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Foster Adopt Connect asks for $500,000 annually to open a foster-care connection center in Hays
Summary
Foster Adopt Connect told the committee it operates four connection centers in Kansas and requested $500,000 a year for a resource center in Hays to serve rural western Kansas counties with elevated rates of children in care.
Lori Ross, founder and CEO of Foster Adopt Connect, told the Committee on Social Services Budget that her nonprofit operates connection centers that provide supports to children, families and child-placing agencies and is seeking $500,000 annually to open a foster-care and adoption connection center in Hays to serve far western Kansas.
Ross said her organization currently runs connection centers in Kansas City, Kansas (state headquarters), Pittsburgh, Wichita (recently opened) and Lawrence. She told committee members that the Hays area and surrounding counties have a relatively high rate of children in care — Ross said the Hays region has about 200 children in care, representing roughly 3.2% of the population there compared with about 1% statewide — and that a local connection center would extend services into rural counties with limited resources.
Ross said the organization does not perform foster-care case management; instead it acts as a support hub to provide community resource navigation and problem-solving services to the placing agencies and families. She said Missouri funds similar services through its Department of Social Services; Foster Adopt Connect receives state-level funds in Missouri and asked the committee to consider a comparable ongoing appropriation in Kansas.
Ending: Ross said the Wichita center opened with a prior appropriation and the Hays request would be an ongoing annual appropriation; no formal vote occurred at the hearing.
