Topeka, KS. – Today, Kansas Governor Laura Kelly signed House Bill 2024, sponsored by the Committee on Child Welfare and Foster Care, extending basic rights to over 6,000 abused and neglected children living in foster care.
"Abused and neglected children in Kansas have brighter futures today,” said Darcy Olsen, CEO of the Center for the Rights of Abused Children. “We were privileged to work with leaders in Kansas on the Representative Gail Finney Memorial Foster Care Bill of Rights.”
This new law guarantees abused and neglected children the right to live with their siblings, to visit family, and to live with family and kin whenever possible. The reform also supports the relatives, kin, and foster families who open their homes to children by guaranteeing their access to vital information, participation in case planning, and consideration as a placement option.
What sets Kansas’s foster care bill of rights apart from others across the country is that the provisions are enforceable. The new law grants a child or legal guardian the ability to petition the judge in their case to remedy violated rights.
In a recent court case at the Center for the Rights of Abused Children, a young woman aged out of foster care when she turned 18. It was only after her discharge that she learned she had not been provided with transitional resources, which would have helped her secure housing and avoid incarceration. The Center for the Rights of Abused Children is committed to continuing its work with Kansas policymakers to ensure the right to counsel for all abused and neglected children. This will give them a meaningful way to hold the system accountable and to assert the rights established by this reform.
About the Center for The Rights of Abused Children: Our mission is to protect children, change laws, and inspire people – to ensure every abused child has a bright future. Join our life-saving work to end violence against children.
Contact: Aimee Jolley at (602) 689-4052 or aimee@thecenterforchildren.org or Lindsay Hansen at (480) 205-6195 or lindsay@ldhconsulting.net.