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Child advocacy centers urge funding to expand trauma‑informed services and reduce PRTF wait lists
Summary
Children's Advocacy Centers of Kansas told the committee that CACs produce cost savings and earlier trauma treatment, but state grant cuts threaten capacity; centers requested about $3.8 million to sustain and expand services and to train clinicians in problematic sexualized behavior treatment.
Casey Dahlke, executive director of Children's Advocacy Centers of Kansas, told the committee CACs provide coordinated, trauma‑informed services that streamline investigations, increase prosecution substantiation rates and reduce the costs of traditional multi‑agency responses.
Dahlke said CACs use multidisciplinary teams—law enforcement, child protection, prosecution, medical and mental‑health providers and victim advocates—to conduct interviews and coordinate care in child‑friendly settings. She told the committee the CAC model reduces average interagency costs from roughly $4,000 per case under traditional approaches to about $3,000 per case under the CAC model and that the centers increase the quality of forensic information and early access to mental‑health care.
Dahlke and Brynn (Bren) Murphy of Sunlight Children’s Services described a KDADS‑funded initiative to train clinicians in cognitive behavioral interventions for problematic sexualized behavior; Dahlke said the training aims to reduce PRTF (psychiatric residential treatment facility) wait lists by enabling earlier outpatient and community interventions. Dahlke recommended $3.0 million to expand services at existing centers and $800,000 to seed start‑up funding for new centers (total requested: $3.8 million), and warned that House Bill 2007’s budget changes threaten about $340,000 in current CAC funding this fiscal year.
Bryn(n) (Bren) Murphy, CEO of Sunlight Children’s Services, described two local programs: a child advocacy center in El Dorado that added therapy slots over the past five years (three therapists at capacity) and an emergency shelter in Andover serving youth birth–18 who enter police protective custody or who lack placement. Murphy said about 30% of youth in their emergency shelter were in foster care and awaiting PRTF or stable placements.
Dahlke said about 32% of Kansas’ geography (rural areas) currently lacks access to a CAC and argued that sustainable, statewide funding is needed to ensure equitable access. Committee members heard that immediate intervention and therapist availability at CACs produce high therapy retention and that trained clinicians help keep children safely at home in many cases.
No committee votes were taken on these presentations. Dahlke and Murphy offered to provide further budget detail and to work with legislators on bills affecting child welfare and funding.
