Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Child Welfare Family Finding topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Child advocate urges stronger family-finding, concurrent planning and judicial tools to speed permanency
Summary
Carrie Leonard of the Office of the Child Advocate told the Joint Committee on Child Welfare Oversight that Kansas should strengthen family-finding, adopt true concurrent planning and give courts tools to hold agencies accountable, citing placement instability and lengthy foster-care stays. The committee requested follow-ups on mediation and family-finding tools.
Carrie Leonard, director with the Office of the Child Advocate, told the Joint Committee on Child Welfare System Oversight on June 30 that the office has seen sustained increases in complaints and recurring problems across regions, including inappropriate placement changes, long delays to permanency and failure to identify relatives for placement. Leonard said the OCA received a roughly 60% increase in complaints compared with 2024 before a recent slowdown and pointed to Sedgwick/Wichita and Kansas City as high-volume areas.
Leonard urged three priorities. First, “strengthen family finding,” she said, starting efforts from day one and improving timelines and background checks so relatives are identified and engaged earlier. Second, she recommended “true concurrent planning” so case plans do not restart after 2–3 years and children are not left in care for multiple additional years while plans reset. Third, she proposed judicial tools—bench cards and a judicial tip sheet—that would prompt courts to ask specific questions at each hearing (for example, about kinship placement and reasonable efforts) and hold providers to consistent expectations.
Leonard said DCF and provider policies exist but should be strengthened, and she presented statutory examples from other states that set timelines and reporting requirements to bolster family-finding and court oversight. On mediation, Leonard said Kansas has used family mediation in the past but that certified mediators appear scarce; she recommended examining models from other states and exploring whether mediation could be used earlier in cases to avoid adversarial escalation.
Committee members pressed for operational detail. Leonard said the OCA’s goal is initial contact within two business days for new complaints and that the office is exploring follow-up surveys and outreach to improve responsiveness. Members asked staff to compile information on mediator licensing and proposed statutory models Leonard cited.
The committee agreed to follow up on the OCA’s recommendations and requested that DCF and research staff report back with data and options.
