Gov. Brownback, SRS secretary discussing marriage initiatives

? Gov. Sam Brownback and the state’s social service agency chief met Thursday with a group of people to brainstorm on “healthy marriage initiatives.”

“The goal is to have more intact families in Kansas,” said Michelle Schroeder, a spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services.

Schroeder said SRS Secretary Rob Siedlecki and Brownback met with scholars and researchers from across the nation. She declined to name them.

“We’re at the beginning of the process,” she said.

Siedlecki and Brownback have talked in the past about promoting marriage. Siedlecki has also said he was developing new faith-based initiatives at SRS.

Siedlecki is a former high-ranking Florida Department of Health official who also worked in the U.S. Justice Department’s Task Force on Faith-Based Initiatives under President George W. Bush.