TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – A nationwide class action lawsuit against the welfare of children has been officially settled in court.

The Kansas Department of Children and Families has welcomed approval of the settlement agreement in MB against Howard, which calls for a complete overhaul of the care system in Kansas.

“I want to thank Judge Crabtree and the plaintiffs for making this a collaborative process,” said Howard. “We have already started working to meet the terms of the agreement. We know we have a lot of work to do to strengthen our commitment to children in Kansas by building an effective child care system.”

According to DCF, the 2018 class action lawsuit was filed by Kansas Appleseed, Lori Burns-Bucklew, Children’s Rights, and the National Center for Youth Rights against Governor Laura Kelly, the DCF, the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, and the Kansas Department for Health and Environment. It was said that Governor Kelly was later released from the case.

The DCF said the agreement outlines three categories of requirements that it needs to focus on in order to ensure stability of placement and access to mental health services. Categories include accountability reporting and implementation, practice improvements, and results.

“We know these results are achievable because we have already seen the positive results of the hard work DCF employees put into these requirements,” said Howard. “I believe we can meet deadlines set out in the agreement and make sure Kansas doesn’t get drawn into endless litigation.”

According to the department, it has already organized a nationwide working group for the stability of the placement of partners and providers as part of the processing work in order to identify and implement improvements. In addition, an order will soon be awarded to provide crisis response and support for the Kansas family so that DCF can provide crisis intervention services across the state.

The DCF said it has also increased support for family members and carers and will shortly issue an RFP for Innovations to support the improvements in internship stability practice included in the settlement agreement.

According to DCF, these efforts have reduced the relocation rate for supervised children in the past year.

However, Howard said she was not satisfied.

“We have made significant strides in slowing the number of foster youths who run away or do no internship and end up in offices, decision-making and family-building,” said Howard, “thanks to our expanded Special Response Team and by building a new child protection framework through new models of exercise like Team.” . “I am determined to continue this work until the requirements are met and to make our progress along this path transparent.”

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