Governor Brownback and The Kansas "Ways"

Haulmark and Kahrs, the "Department's Legs"



"Brownback hints at "style" problems with SRS secretary"

"Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback suggested this morning that “style” issues may have led to the undoing of Social Service Secretary Rob Siedlecki.

“There are a lot of difficult things that he did. I think a number of them were good. I think a number of them were not as good appreciation for style, ways of doing things in the Midwest,” Brownback told The Star’s editorial board."

Did he rub state legislators the wrong way?
“Style and ways of doing things in the Midwest,” the governor reiterated. “It’s just different…It’s a big country and you do things a little different in different places.”  http://midwestdemocracyproject.org/blogs/entries/brownback-hints-style-problems-srs-secretary/#storylink=cpy

As a US Senator, Governor Brownback claimed he couldn't assist families that wrote to him regarding the wrongful removal of their children. Brownback wrote, "I am limited in what I can do because it comes under the direct authority of the State of Kansas. Because I am a member of the federal legislature, I have no jurisdiction in state matters". 

Now that Brownback is Governor of Kansas and over SRS/CPS, even less children have been reunified with their families than when the previous administration was in office.   

The Kansas "ways" of doing things is to violate the rights of children and families, take children from good homes only to place them with abusers, hide behind secret courts and sealed records where parents don't receive due process. 

Read more here: http://midwestdemocracyproject.org/blogs/entries/brownback-hints-style-problems-srs-secretary/#storylink=cpy

SRS/CPS Secretary Rob Siedlecki Is Leaving Kansas

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2011/dec/15/statehouse-live-srs-secretary-siedlecki-steps-down/

What's worse?

"Jeff Kahrs, the SRS chief of staff, will serve in the secretary's capacity until Brownback appoints a new Cabinet officer before the start of the 2012 legislative session in January..." http://cjonline.com/news/state/2011-12-15/srs-secretary-siedlecki-resigns

ABC News ~ Psychiatrists Put Kids at Risk With Mind-Altering Drugs

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, former Governor of Kansas didn't respond to ABC news.
While Sebelius was Governor, in 2004, 71% of the foster children were on psychotropic drugs.

Kansas has created a heritage of broken families, poverty and suffering

Kansas will take a couple decades to rebuild after the slaughter, by child protective services, of so many families. That's only on the assumption that the new governor and any following will work to maintain the family unit.

Broken families are handicapped by the devastation of losing their children and many struggle to work. The public employees, Judges, lawyers, police, district attorneys, social workers, teachers, therapists, foster care agencies, legislators, etc... want to receive a pay check but have made no attempt to protect the private sector from state abuse.

Without the private sector, there wouldn't be public employees.

Once children go into foster care there is little hope for their future as 80% of our prison population is comprised of former foster children. Obviously, foster care creates criminals. Is that in the best interest of children and citizens?

• Year 2000, SRS Press Release: THOUSANDS of Kansas children have been taken from their homes and communities and inappropriately placed in state custody and foster care over the years.  http://home.iwichita.com/rh1/hold/fp/srs_1800.htm

What's even worse is what has happened to the children in foster care. Kathleen Sebelius was Governor of Kansas between 2003-2009. In 2004, while Sebelius was watching, 71% of children in foster care were being medicated on psychotropic drugs. Many of these drugs were not approved by the FDA for children.

In 2004, Sebelius decided to keep a tight rein on the open records of children who died in foster care due to the concern there would be lawsuits. http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2004/jun/29/srs_fears_open/

In January 2005, it was reported that many foster children weren't able to make it on their own and were put out on the street. http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/oct/17/group_homes_dont_foster_life_skills/

In 2005, SRS employees were told to disregard state and federal laws without consequences.  http://www.cjonline.com/stories/072205/leg_srsaudit.shtml 

In 2007 a spokesperson for Youthville said that for the majority of children in foster care school is nonexistent. http://www.clearwaterks.org/DocumentView.aspx?DID=66

In March 2008, former Secretary of SRS, Don Jordan, told a group of citizens that the Sedgwick County DA bullied social workers into falsifying records to remove children from their parent's custody. The State found this to be true through a legislative post audit, yet Sebelius did nothing to correct the wrongs of these broken families. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O57nCusVtvo

Dec. 1st, 2009, a Kansas attorney testifies before the legislature regarding foster care abuse and violations of family rights.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iM_ZJTUd9M

Kansans needs to recognize that maintaining families is important to the economy, is needed for the safety of its citizens, and most importantly is necessary for the future growth and heritage of Kansas families.

Overruled: Government Invasion of your Parental Rights (Official Movie)

Kansas Is Stealing The Family Heritage! Run Toto.. Run!

This Picture Posted by the Kansas Watch Dog
May 9, 2010, More Info Below :
http://kansas.watchdog.org/3734/adoption-protest-at-joco-courthouse/

Children deserve protection, their family and the right to know where they come from.

Kansas is a leader in taking children from good homes on false allegations of abuse.

Kansas foster children have been adopted out to strangers where they have been abused, raped and murdered!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hu_mjvg_Vt4

Just ask Adam Herrman, born Irvin Groeninger III, when and IF you find him.

Their signs said:

• Our children are not orphans
• KVC is kidnapping.  Not family preservation.
• Judges are not God.
• Kansas #1 stealing children from families.
• SRS stealing children for money.

Comments from the protesters included:
Kathy Winters (Olathe, left-most in picture)
Grandmother

“Tonight they’re going to be adopting children out.”

“There are kids being adopted out that have family that want them.”

“These children, who have been in foster homes, have been taken away from their families. They’re going to be adopted by strangers. …”

“What we’re protesting is there are families that want these kids. The adoption doesn’t have to be to strangers. These kids have known these families since they were born. They need to be with their families — with their grandparents.”

“Instead, the state and the private contractors make more money when they adopt them out to strangers …”

“SRS doesn’t believe in family preservation. …”

“I’m not talking about children who are truly, truly abused. I’m talking about the ones they take the kids away just because they can. …”

“We’d have a lot more people here, but they are scared to death … It’s not a free country. You can’t come out and speak” [without retaliation]. What can they do to me now? They’ve taken my grandkids away.”

“The solution is that we have to have some laws that protect family preservation. They don’t even try to keep the family together.”

Sadie Carpenter (Olathe, second from left in picture)
Grandmother and former social worker

“The solution is to change the laws and get rid of the private contractors.”
“They string you out … They promise you, ‘if you do this, this and this,’ you can get your children back.”

Fred Carpenter (Olathe, right-most in picture)
Grandfather

[The attorneys] “were wanting a good $8000. We’ve spent right at $2000″ so far to get our granddaughter back.

---

Related:

• Fox 4 KC: Report Slams Kansas Foster Care System, Kansas Watchdog, March 29, 2010.
• Warrant out for mom who testified at hearing about losing custody of children, Kansas Watchdog, Feb. 28, 2010.
• State Sen. Julia Lynn grills SRS Secretary about contracting irregularities: “It just smells bad”, Kansas Watchdog, Dec. 6, 2009.
• Legislators reflect on two days of heaings about children’s issue, Kansas Watchdog, Dec. 5, 2009.
• Compelling stories from parents and grandparents about problems with placement and removal of children, Kansas Watchdog, Dec. 4, 2009.
• Parents, grandparents ask why children removed from homes, Kansas Watchdog, Dec. 1, 2009.

---

Contact: Earl F Glynn, earl@kansaswatchdog.org, KansasWatchdog.org

The State Of Kansas Is Offering "FREE" Adoptions At The Expense Of The Tax Payer

According to Siedlecki it's all FREE.

Free Adoption
Free Subsidies
Free Medical Coverage
Free College Education


What did he say? Puppy syndrome? Comparing children with dogs?

Child poverty meetings scheduled for next week

"The meetings are titled “Rising to the Challenge: Reducing Childhood Poverty and Improving Childhood Outcomes in Kansas” and will feature national and state experts on childhood poverty, including the Heritage Foundation’s Robert Rector and Ron Haskins..."

 

Read more: http://www.kansas.com/2011/11/10/2097958/child-poverty-meetings-scheduled.html#ixzz1dP4xBSFD

This is a public meeting and even though anyone can attend, the State is requiring citizens to register for this event.     

Here is the link: http://www.srs.ks.gov/Pages/TownHallMeetings.aspx

The meetings will be:

1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Nov. 14 at the Jack Reardon Convention Center, 500 Minnesota Ave., KC, KS

1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Nov. 16 at the Drury Plaza Broadview Hotel, 400 W. Douglas, Wichita

1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Nov. 17 at the Dennis Perryman Athletic Complex at.Garden City Community College

From The Heritage Foundation, Foster Care: Safety Net or Trap Door? by Thomas Atwood,

March 25, 2011.

 "States tend to overuse foster care because they receive federal matching funds

for every qualifying child in care. "

"Abstract: For tens of thousands of endangered children, foster care has become a trap door rather than the safety net they need to help them succeed. In particular, federal financing policies have favored foster care over other child welfare approaches, leading states to overuse foster care to the detriment of children who could be adopted or whose families could be rehabilitated."

http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/03/foster-care-safety-net-or-trap-door



Kevin O'Connor Has Announced His Candidacy For Sedgwick County DA

 

 

 

A couple links with the announcement:

http://www.kansas.com/2011/11/09/2096170/oconnor-announces-candidacy-for.html

 

http://www.kake.com/home/headlines/OConner_Kicks_Off_DA_Candidacy_133475643.html

According to the New Secretary of SRS, Rob Siedlecki, Regarding Adoptions, IT'S ALL FREE MONEY!!!

According to the new Secretary of SRS, it's all FREE MONEY!

Free money to adopt Kansas children.

Free money to have medical coverage for those children.

Free money to send adopted children to college.

What about all the FREE MONTHLY SUBSIDIES AND TAX BREAKS those adopters receive?

 

And then there is the FREE $300,000 to Promote Adoptions of Kansas children.

 

It's NOT FREE MONEY, it is tax payers dollars funded by the private sector.

That would include, Secretary of SRS Rob Siedlecki's income. The private sector pays for his home, his life style and income.

 

Here's the story: http://cjonline.com/news/2011-11-07/srs-offers-300000-spur-adoption#comment-462415

 

By Tim Carpenter Copyright 2011 . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

November 7, 2011 - 06:11pm

SRS offers $300,000 to spur adoption

THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL

Jonathan and Allison Schumm's family is big enough to conduct a regulation basketball game.
That wouldn't be possible without five siblings adopted by the Topeka couple to complement their three biological children.
The team was present at the Kansas Children’s Discovery Center for the announcement Monday of the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services' offer of $300,000 from a federal grant to the company proposing the most imaginative one-year marketing campaign to recruit adoptive families.
"This is a heartfelt cause," said SRS Secretary Robert Siedlecki. "This campaign is directed towards our children who are typically hardest to place in adoptive families — the kids of sibling groups, with mental or physical disabilities or teenagers."
He said the state had 5,200 children in foster care. Five hundred of 900 in the adoption queue are awaiting completion of the adoption process, but 420 haven’t yet been linked with a prospective adoptive family.
"Those 400 children really are alone," Siedlecki said.
Jonathan Schumm said he could attest to the compelling force for good generated by adoption of children. His roster: Nicole, 16, Alisa, 13, Emmanuel, 11, Jaquale, 6, Angel, 5, Mercy, 5, Isaiah, 3, and Kyrsten, 1.
"I'm not here to tell you foster care and adoption are easy," he said while the children played in the center's kid-friendly facility. "It's been worth every smile and every tear."
He said information on children available for adoption in Kansas could be found at www.adoptkskids.org. Some children still on the list were there six years ago when Schumm and his wife initially became involved in foster care and adoption.
"So many kids are still waiting," he said.
Gov. Sam Brownback decreed November as Kansas Adoption Month. On Nov. 19, several court jurisdictions in Kansas will finalize at least 100 adoptions to mark the declaration.
Brownback and his wife, Mary, adopted two children from overseas. A son, Mark, celebrated his 14th birthday Monday.
"Adoption is fabulous," the governor said at the Statehouse. "It just brings a smile to my face every time I think about it. My hope is more families will step up."
He said his family's decision to not adopt in Kansas reflected his trips while in Congress to orphanages in other countries, many of which didn't have a strong cultural tradition of adoption.
In addition, the governor said he was aware of a U.S. family that struggled for six years to complete an adoption.
Siedlecki, the top administrator at SRS, said adoptions through the state of Kansas were completed at little or no cost and were legally secure because parental rights had been severed.
Kansas families who adopt children may be eligible for state or federal financial subsidies, he said. Funding is available for health care of adopted children through Medicaid and for college tuition for children adopted from state care after age 16.
Siedlecki said the goal of SRS was to complete more than 800 adoptions in the current fiscal year ending in July. In the last fiscal year, the state finalized 761 adoptions. In the first three months of the year, 178 children have been adopted from state care in Kansas.
Tim Carpenter can be reached at (785) 295-1158 or timothy.carpenter@cjonline.com.

 

 

100,277 Kansas Children "Served" In Out Of Home Placement Since 1997

The Kansas SRS website shows that there has been a total of 100,277 Kansas Children "Served" in Out Of Home Placement since 1997

The State Labels these seizures as "Foster Care Service Frequency"

Here is the link to that information:

http://www.srs.ks.gov/agency/cfs/Pages/ProgramData.aspx#Federal%20Fiscal%20Year%20Adoptions%20Finalized

 

FY2011 shows that the Kansas Child Population under the age of 18 years old is 695,712

http://www.cwla.org/advocacy/statefactsheets/2011/kansas.pdf