State assessment finds Kansas youth behavioral-health gaps; recommends early-intervention system and detention standards

Stephanie Uberal, deputy director of the Council of State Governments Justice Center, told the Committee on Corrections and Juvenile Justice that Kansas is the first state to develop a Stepping Up for Youth initiative and that a year-long assessment across KDOC, KDADS, DCF and OJA produced several findings and recommendations.

Uberal said the assessment found many young people in Kansas have behavioral-health needs and are “pushed into the juvenile justice system really to receive services rather than because they are a public safety risk.” She said nearly half of girls reported prolonged sadness, 13% of boys had seriously considered suicide, and 9% of youth had a substance-use disorder. The assessment showed gaps in community-based care: two-thirds of young people who had a major depressive episode did not receive mental-health services, and 77% of youth arrests were for non-person offenses.

The task force’s second finding was that Kansas lacks a coordinated statewide approach to community-based behavioral-health services for justice-involved youth. Uberal said state funding and contract line items intended for behavioral health are underused, producing unused service slots despite unmet need, and that Medicaid was not being maximized for evidence-based youth services.

A third finding focused on detention and confinement. Uberal said Kansas reduced detention use but still detains youth pre-adjudication at a rate 88% higher than the national average. She said almost two-thirds of youth at the Kansas Juvenile Correctional Complex (KJCC) assessed as low or moderate risk to reoffend, while 77% of KJCC residents have a mental-health diagnosis and 41% take psychotropic medications.

Recommendations approved by the task force include two large-scale efforts Uberal said would be advanced by executive orders and 12–18 month planning processes: 1) creation of an early-intervention system led by KDADS in collaboration with DCF, KDOC and OJA to strengthen crisis intervention, assessment and case management, scale community interventions, coordinate funding streams (Medicaid, state and federal funds), and expand workforce capacity; and 2) establishment of statewide detention standards and quality-assurance mechanisms led by KDOC to ensure detention is used only for youth who are a public-safety or flight risk, and to promote best practices, screening, family engagement and reentry planning.

Uberal outlined additional, agency-specific recommendations: codifying school-based mental-health intervention teams, standardizing immediate-intervention/diversion plans, developing specialized caseloads for youth with behavioral-health needs under community supervision, and requiring care-coordination team meetings for youth at risk of placement in KJCC.

During Q&A, committee members pressed for details on funding gaps, rural access, Medicaid coverage and whether the department leads agreed with the recommendations. Uberal said much of the funding shortfall stemmed from lack of youth-specific provider capacity and that some line items had not been expended. KDOC Deputy Secretary Megan Miller later told the committee KDOC supports the recommendations and is coordinating with partner agencies on implementation needs.