Kansas Relies Heavily On Law Enforcement For Child Welfare Matters, Advocate Warns

Kansas is too often relying on law enforcement to make time-critical determinations about the welfare of children with limited information about families and, in some areas of the state, lack of access to alternative services.,  Kansas Child Advocate Kerrie Lonard told the state legislature this week. “Kansas is relying on law enforcement to not only act as public safety officer, but also that of a social worker,” Lonard said. Lonard said questions had been raised in Kansas about the percentage of children being removed from homes by law enforcement, the Kansas Reflector reports. Questions also have been posed about whether child trauma could be reduced if DCF personnel were more readily available to be involved in removal decisions, she said. “Law enforcement does not have in-real-time access to DCF resources or historical information to enable consideration of safely vetted alternative options that would prevent children from being placed into police protective custody,” she said.

Ron Paschal, the deputy district attorney in Sedgwick County responsible for the Child In Need of Care division, said the state should be wary of latching onto a set of statistics and deciding too many children were being taken into protective custody by law enforcement agencies. He said a significant portion of children in protective custody were later returned home, but that didn’t mean initial decisions of law enforcement officers were flawed. “We can all agree in a perfect world no child should experience removal from home. We all agree that is a traumatic experience,” Paschal said. “But, I think, if we look at the reality, sadly, many children’s lives and safety are at risk at home.” Former Topeka police chief Ed Klumpp, who lobbies on behalf of three law enforcement associations in Kansas, said the power to place a child in protective custody wasn’t used by officers without exploration of other solutions. “Taking a child into police protective custody can be traumatic not only for the child and family, but also to the officer,” Klumpp said.