Topeka — In the four years since Kansas privatized the bulk of its foster care system, costs have exceeded predictions by $105.1 million.
Rep. Rocky Nichols, D-Topeka, wants to know where the money went.
"It's certainly not getting down to the subcontractors' level, we know that," he said. "And we haven't had proof of any new, enhanced great services being provided. So the question is: Where's the (money) and how is it being spent?
"Obviously, the trickle-down theory is not working here."
Nichols and Rep. Brenda Landwehr, R-Wichita, on Thursday introduced a pair of bills aimed at making contractors explain how they're spending the state's money. The bills also direct the system to begin tracking the well-being of foster children.
Under privatization, Nichols said, contractors collect data on how long children remain in the system and whether they're adopted, returned to their families or exit the system after turning 18.
"We don't track whether the system chews them up and spits them out and whether a kid, after he leaves the system, is better off or worse off," Nichols said.
The bills struck a sour chord with contractors and state welfare officials.
"We do not support (the bills)," said Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services Secretary Janet Schalansky in an e-mail to reporters.
According to Schalansky, Kansas' foster care system is "one of the most accountable" in the nation.
But Nichols and others note:
Lutheran Social Services, the state's sole adoption contractor from 1996 to 2000, announced last fall that it had run out of money and couldn't pay its bills. To avoid bankruptcy proceedings, subcontractors had to write off 26 percent of what they were owed.
United Methodist Youthville, one of the state's five foster care contractors, has let lawmakers know it's had to borrow millions of dollars from its foundation to make ends meet.
Florence Crittenton Services, a group home for teen-age girls in foster care, announced earlier this year that it would switch to caring for juvenile offenders because its foster care contract didn't cover expenses.
These examples, Nichols said, underscore a lack of accountability.
"Foster care was done too fast too much, too soon," he said. "(SRS) got it all out there, they privatized it and then they were perpetuating that foster care was working when there were problems. It was, basically, 'What's the fabrication of the day?'"
Maureen Mahoney, legal counsel for Kaw Valley Center, the Kansas City-based foster care contractor for Douglas and Jefferson counties, said she's puzzled by Nichols' concerns.
"I don't know what to say. We virtually open our books to SRS, they know everything about us. I don't know what more we can do," she said. "And no one is going to argue against monitoring well-being, but what does that mean? What would you measure? And how would you do it?"
Mahoney said the average child served by Kaw Valley spends a year in foster care vs. a national average of 33 months.
"That's what the data shows. I guess I don't know why we're not all applauding this."
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