Kansas child welfare oversight office has completed 7 investigations, working on 69
Nearly a year after Gov. Laura Kelly established the office by executive order Kansas’ Division of the Child Advocate has 69 open investigations into Kansas’ child welfare system.
The nonpartisan oversight office was created by executive order as an independent watchdog to investigate complaints pertaining to the child welfare system.
Kerrie Lonard, the appointed child advocate, told lawmakers at a hearing Tuesday that the office had completed seven investigations. Findings of those investigations will not be made public until the office releases its annual report next year.
The office has been the subject of intense political bickering in Topeka. Last year lawmakers in the Kansas House and Senate each pursued versions of the bills but were deadlocked on where the office should be placed.
In October, after the Legislature failed to pass a bill, Kelly announced she would establish the office within the Office of Administration.
Since she was appointed in December, Lonard said she has fully staffed the office and has worked to develop policies and procedures for investigations. The office has fielded complaints about a wide range of child welfare issues including a child’s initial removal from their family, concerns with case managers and legal counsel and quality of mental healthcare services.
After completing an investigation the office issues a series of recommendations to the relevant agencies.
“Success is going to be measured, one, just own our own internal processes and working and responding to folks who are bringing a concern to us,” Lonard said. “Then, I think there’s the larger scale successes and I think it’s bringing voice to individuals who really felt like they didn’t have another place to voice those concerns.”
Even as the office gets up and running it remains a point of political contention.
During Saturday’s Kansas State Fair debate, Republican Attorney General Derek Schmidt, Kelly’s gubernatorial challenger, called the office ineffective in its current form. One of his top priorities, Schmidt said, would be working with the Legislature to codify the office into statute.
Schmidt’s campaign manager, C.J. Grover, doubled down on the criticism in a statement Tuesday. He pointed to low public awareness, the single digit number of closed investigations and lack of public recommendations as “failures.”
“These failures have occurred because the governor chose to go it alone by executive order instead of work in a bipartisan manner with the Legislature to create an actual effective Office of Child Advocate with the ability to do something beyond reviewing complaints,” Grover said.
State Rep. Jarrod Ousley, a Merriam Democrat, objected to that characterization and said the office should be allowed time to develop its policies before the Legislature got involved.
“I don’t think it’s a bad thing to let the office continue to do the work and see where we are,” Ousley said. “Are you measuring (success) child by child, family by family? Because I think you’ll find plenty of success stories coming out of that office.”
Lonard told reporters she would eventually like the office to become part of statute.
“There are a number of things that the executive order allows us to begin building and figure out what’s going to work in Kansas but there are a number of things that I think are necessary in order for us to really be as effective as we can be here in Kansas and that needs to be done in statute,” Lonard said.
“In regards to the location, it’s working. I think we have been given the autonomy to really operate independently.”
But Republican lawmakers have indicated they would still like to see the office placed in law, and moved out of the Office of Administration.
State Rep. Susan Concannon, a Beloit Republican, said work to codify the office stalled in the House this year and that the chamber had no conversations about the office with the Senate. Concannon had supported a version of the office that reported directly to the Legislature.
“I think that that’s still a bone of contention about where it’s housed and there’s some discussion amongst my leadership in the Legislature about whether the appointment itself was ever done legally,” Concannon said. “I’m just glad we have somebody looking out for the kids.”
State Sen. Molly Baumgardner, a Louisburg Republican, said the onus for legislation would be on November’s House elections. Baumgardner had supported a version of the office that was housed under the Attorney General.
She was frustrated by the time the existing office had taken to build an online presence and get a call-in number running.
“Had we gone with the Senate version there’s an office already there, there’s expertise already there to get things set up. That didn’t happen,” Baumgardner said.
