70 Foster Children In Kansas Go Missing In 2017, Sparking Safety Concerns

Concerns are being raised about the safety of state foster care system after reports emerged Tuesday that more than 70 children were missing from foster homes in Kansas.

The shocking numbers came to light during a child welfare task force meeting in the state about how the Department for Children and Families tracks missing children. In the meeting, according to the Wichita Eagle, lawmakers expressed their worry that the Kansas Department for Children and Families Secretary, Phyllis Gilmore, seemed unaware that three sisters have been missing from a Tonganoxie foster home since Aug. 26.

Sen. Laura Kelly (D-Topeka ) said she was flabbergasted after getting to know that the agency was unaware about the disappearances. “I am flabbergasted,” Kelly said. “I used to work in this world years and years ago and I understand that where you have teenagers, you will have runners and they will go and they will do this kind of stuff.”

“But the fact that the person in charge of the wards of the state has no idea that these kids are missing from her custody is just astounding to me,” she added.

Gilmore said the foster children left to go back to their biological families or other people with whom they have a relationship so they do not have to remain in foster care. Gilmore also referenced to a task force member who had said children who had fled sometimes called to say they are safe but would not reveal their whereabouts. “So it isn’t always a tragedy but some certainly can be and that’s why we have to take it all very seriously,” Gilmore said.

One of the foster care contractors, KVC Kansas said 38 children who were in its care were missing. Another company, Saint Francis Community Services, said 36 were missing in its system.

Chad Anderson, one of the contractors and chief clinical officer at KVC Kansas, said the number of missing represented about 1 percent of the foster care population and is in line with the national average, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported.

Rep. Linda Gallagher (R-Lenexa) said she was shocked at the statistics and added the number was too many even if it was in line with the national average. She also said it was “unbelievable” that Gilmore didn’t know about the missing sisters.

Despite the concerning revelation on Tuesday, Kansas is not the only state in the country where a number of children in state-run foster care have gone missing.

In 2015, the then-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush signed a new law intended to protect foster children in response to the case of 5-year-old Rilya Wilson — the foster child who went missing in 2001 and it took more than one year for authorities to notice her disappearance.

In his deposition for the governor's blue-ribbon panel examining the state's performance in Rilya's disappearance, Dr. George Rahaim of the Department of Children and Families said there were many inadequacies in Florida's foster-care system. "It has gotten worse over time," Rahaim said. "It is worse now, in my opinion, that it ever has been."

He added that some caseworkers decide not to actively visit their assigned foster kids on a regular basis. "Life goes easier for that worker who leaves the child at risk in the home, as long as nothing spectacular happens," he said. Sandra Owen, a former program administrator at the state agency, also said state workers frequently lied about required monthly visits to foster homes."I think it's more endemic to the system that just simple dishonesty," she said. "It is truly endemic to the system."