State officials Wednesday voiced concerns about a so-called foster parents’ “bill of rights,” saying the proposal would actually hurt the foster care system.

“Foster parents need to be recognized and treated with respect, but we need to do it in a way that is not going to be a disservice to children,” said 30th State District Judge Thomas Graber of Sumner County.

Graber testified before the House Federal and State Affairs Committee against a bill that would require social workers to contact foster parents when children once in their care return to the foster care system.

Graber said there are instances where children have been placed in dozens of homes. He said it would be impossible to contact each and every foster parent every time the child’s status changes.

In addition, he said, foster parents already have the right to request recognition as an interested party in a child’s case.

A companion bill would require the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services to give information to a former foster parent even after a child has left foster care.

Graber said he understood how some foster parents wanted to be kept up to date on a former foster child’s progress, but the provision, he said, “is an invasion of the privacy of the child and the child’s family.”

He added that the proposed requirement also would give that information to a foster parent who had abused the child.

The committee decided to continue its hearing on the proposals today.

On Tuesday, dozens of foster parents and foster children attended the committee hearing in support of the measures. Many of them had complained that they had been unfairly treated by social workers and unjustly accused of abuse.

Fifty-two legislators have signed a proclamation supporting the foster parents’ bill of rights.