Last week, Gov. Laura Kelly issued a proclamation recognizing May as Foster Care Month in Kansas. While this symbolic recognition is important, the significant progress we’ve made under Gov. Kelly’s leadership to recreate a comprehensive child well-being system cannot be overstated.
When we began our work in 2019, we inherited an overwhelmed system.
Before 2019, youths in care moved too frequently between placements, spent too much time in offices instead of with families, and Kansans were limited by few support systems outside of foster care.
After taking office, Gov. Kelly immediately instructed the Kansas Department of Children and Families to reform not just the foster care system but the entire child welfare apparatus in Kansas to better serve our children and families.
Commentary: Texas foster care system is in crisis - again
Sophie Phillips, For the Express-News
May 14, 2021
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The cost of child abuse and neglect is paid across a lifetime. Prevention costs less and works better. Texas’ goal should be ensuring that few if any children ever experience abuse, neglect or removal from their families in the first place.Billy Calzada /Staff file photo
In Child Protective Services offices across Texas, 339 children have slept on the floor for at least one night since August. Under the state’s care, 23 children have died since July 2019. Last week, a new court-ordered report in the decadeslong lawsuit against the foster care system in Texas cited alarming, dangerous conditions for foster children under the state’s care, including reports of insufficient care and supervision and allegations of sexual assault and violence at Bexar County facilities.
San Pasqual Academy Is Still Fighting for Its Life
Community members are celebrating another extension staving off closure, but said that county leaders need to work harder to keep the school open long term. They believe the facility provides a crucial option for foster youth who don’t have stable homes to live in.
San Pasqual Academy / Photo by Adriana Heldiz
San Pasqual Academy can keep its doors open a little longer but its ultimate fate is still unclear, and it’s causing turmoil between the school community and state and county leaders. The young people who live at the boarding school for foster youth in Escondido don’t know whether they’re going to be able to live and attend school there next summer, or if the next year is going to be a long transitioning process out of the campus.
DHHS: Maine does not need a stand-alone child welfare department
A bill before the Legislature would interfere with positive change in protecting vulnerable children, says the head of the Office of Child and Family Services.
By Todd A. LandrySpecial to the Press Herald
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Ensuring that children grow up safe is among the most sacred responsibilities of our society. From the moment a child comes home from the hospital, to the time they eventually leave home as an adult, they should be protected from harm, cared for with love and attention and supported in their growth and development. This great responsibility is shared by countless individuals and institutions throughout our state, from parents, doctors, teachers and law enforcement to our child welfare staff at the Maine Department of Health and Human Services and many others throughout state government.
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