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Commission approves agreement to pursue partial Title IV‑E reimbursements for court‑appointed attorney fees
Summary
The commission authorized an interagency agreement with the Kansas Department for Children and Families to begin claiming partial reimbursements (county estimate ~5% of eligible costs) for court‑appointed attorney expenses in foster‑care cases; staff estimated a modest recovery capped around $25,000.
Leavenworth County Commissioners approved an interagency agreement with the Kansas Department for Children and Families to allow the county to seek partial reimbursements for court‑appointed attorney expenses related to Title IV‑E foster‑care cases.
County staff said the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services created a program permitting governments to recover a portion of these costs; the state is administering the program and will retain roughly 5% to manage it while the county would receive the remaining reimbursement (the county estimated its share would be about 5% of eligible costs under the current state allocation). The presenter said the county paid approximately $105,000 last year in related costs and that the maximum recovery for the county under the program would be about $25,000.
Staff asked the commission to approve the agreement in substantially the form presented, subject to minor reporting‑format tweaks requested by the state. Commissioners approved the motion by voice/roll call.
The county counselor’s office will administer the program and review bills; staff noted community corrections does not have the bandwidth to manage the reporting and billing. The agreement requires the county to track expenses and report them under the state’s procedures in order to receive reimbursements.
