Three years ago, Kansas had about 3,800 children living in foster homes. Another 1,400 were awaiting adoption.

Today, 730 fewer children are in foster care; 250 more are available for adoption.

“What we’re seeing, I think, is that all the emphasis that’s been put on ‘prevention services’ appears to be keeping kids out of foster care — and that’s a good thing,” said Sandra Hazlett, director of children and family policy at the state Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services.

But, she says, it also means the foster care system finds itself taking on harder-to-handle children who, in turn, are more difficult to adopt.

“It’s like there’s a pool forming,” Hazlett said.

Last month, 76 children were moved out of foster care and into the state’s adoption system.

“That’s one of the highest — if not the highest — number of referrals we’ve had since we had the contract,” said Sandra Dixson, vice president in charge of child welfare services at Kansas Children’s Service League, which has had the state’s adoption contract since 2000.

On average, 50 children are referred to the adoption contract each month.

Of the 76 referrals in March, Dixson said 46 were from Sedgwick County.

“That’s the most we’ve ever had from Sedgwick County,” she said. “It’s usually around 25.”

Dixson attributed the Sedgwick County increase to recent changes in federal child welfare law aimed at moving foster care cases through the courts quicker, the courts taking on a backlog of cases, and an unusually high number of troubled parents relinquishing their parental rights rather than forcing the court to severe them.

April’s numbers, Dixson said, won’t be as high.

Fewer foster children

Foster care numbers in Douglas County are down. Fewer children are entering the system; more are leaving.

“Our numbers are low, very low,” said Judy Culley, executive director at The Shelter, which operates two 14-bed emergency shelters for abused and neglected children in Douglas County.

“I don’t know why — I’d have to have a crystal ball for that,” Culley said. “But I suspect it’s a number of things going on at the same time.”

Foster care numbers appear to be down across northeast Kansas, too.

“Our referrals have been steady or going down for the past three years,” said Sherry Love, president of the permanency division at Kaw Valley Center, the Kansas City, Kan.-based program that has the state foster care contract for eight northeast Kansas counties — Douglas, Franklin, Jefferson, Jackson, Atchison, Brown, Doniphan and Wyandotte.

The region, Love said, had an average of 23 foster-care referrals a month in January, February and March — that’s 12 a month less than the same period last year, eight a month less than 2001.

Budget cuts

Earlier this year, lawmakers cut payments to the state’s foster care contractors by 5 percent. Payments to the adoption contractor were cut 2.5 percent.

Also cut was 2.5 percent of the funding for family preservation programs. As yet, those family aid cuts have not, as many feared, led to more children entering the system. But that could change, contractors said.

Lawrence-based DCCCA has the family preservation contract for the eastern half of the state.

“We’re eating (the cut),” said DCCCA executive director Bruce Beale.

“It’s always been my position that almost anybody can take a 2 1/2 percent cut,” he said. “But I can also tell you that we’re starting to inch into red ink.”

Sandi Clear, a Topeka foster parent who exchanges e-mails with foster parents across the state, said that since the cuts took effect Feb. 1, several foster parents “are having a lot more trouble getting a hold of their child’s caseworker — it’s like everybody’s looking to save money wherever they can.”

Looking at it

Though lawmakers welcome the drop in foster care numbers, they don’t know what to do about ever-increasing adoption caseload.

“I’ve asked SRS to take a look at it,” said Rep. Brenda Landwehr, R-Wichita, chairwoman of the SRS budget subcommittee. “We’re getting a lot of hard-to-adopt kids in the system, and we need to figure what to do for them, because what we’re doing now doesn’t seem to be working.”

SRS’ Hazlett said she was already gathering ideas for overhauling the adoption contract, which expires June 30, 2004.

“We need to approach it several different ways,” she said. “That might mean doing more to get the older kids into independent living programs sooner or making it so more of them can move in with relatives without being adopted — maybe they can be with a relative if there’s a foster home available for respite care.”

She added, “It’s not been fully thought through, but we’re working on it.”