Wichita ? A storm of calls for the resignation of the head of the state’s child welfare agency erupted in Wichita on Friday, as child advocacy groups pointed to his secretly recorded statements to bolster their contention that prosecutors improperly pressure caseworkers to remove Kansas children from their parents.

Meanwhile, in Topeka, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius declared her confidence Friday for her embattled secretary of the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services as his own state agency sought to explain away his contradictory and embarrassing remarks.

At issue are statements Dan Jordan made during a March 18 meeting with Citizens for Change in Topeka. In the secretly recorded meeting, Jordan said that Sedgwick County prosecutors sometimes bully his caseworkers into including information they did not believe in sworn affidavits.

He backed off those statements in a column published in The Wichita Eagle on Thursday, writing that he did not know of any instance in which social workers committed perjury or misrepresented the facts in court documents.

But on Friday, three child advocacy groups held a news conference to step up public pressure, calling on Sebelius to demand Jordan’s resignation. The Eagle also published an editorial Friday calling for Jordan to step down. A public forum is planned for today.

SRS spokeswoman Michelle Ponce said Friday that Jordan has not resigned.

“Our focus moving forward is to continue working on positive and collaborative relationships with county and district attorneys across the state,” Ponce said.

The governor also tried to smooth the rift between Jordan and prosecutors.

“I was not pleased with the comments of Secretary Jordan about the Wichita office and communicated that to both the secretary and the district attorney,” Sebelius said in a written statement. “At my request, a follow-up meeting took place and my understanding is that it was productive. I am confident this unfortunate choice of words does not accurately reflect the sentiments of the secretary and his staff and have been assured that communication between the offices and working relationships will improve.”

Jordan wrote that some individuals had taken his “few poorly considered” comments for their own purposes and stretched them beyond anything he knew or believed.

At a news conference Friday, Citizens for Change, a nonprofit advocacy group in Wichita, was joined by two national groups – National Coalition for Child Protection Reform and American Family Advocacy Center – to discuss a multi-pronged approach to handling the soaring numbers of children taken from their parents in Sedgwick County, which has one of the highest child-removal rates in the nation.

The rate children are taken from parents in Sedgwick County is almost twice as high as it is New York City or Los Angeles, according to SRS statistics compiled by the advocacy groups.

“Do I think obtaining Don Jordan’s resignation is going to fix the problem? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. This is much bigger than Don Jordan,” said Vickie Burris, president of Citizens for Change.

Burris called for federal investigations into the Department of Social and Rehabilitative Services and the Sedgwick County district attorney’s office. She said she sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services asking them to investigate SRS.

The National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, based in Alexandria, Va., also released an updated report on the Kansas child protection system. The group is seeking a change in Kansas law for open juvenile court hearings, such as those in 15 other states. It also wants an end to the practice in Kansas of not counting as foster-care placements those children who are temporarily removed for a few days.

The American Family Advocacy Center, based in Elbert, Colo., said it will conduct its own audit of child welfare investigations and cases in Kansas. It said it will look at whether caseworkers may have falsified information on affidavits.