SESSION OF 2019
SUPPLEMENTAL NOTE ON SENATE BILL NO. 162
As Amended by Senate Committee of the Whole

Brief*
SB 162, as amended, would require a foster care case
management contractor (contractor) under contract with the
Department for Children and Families (DCF) to notify DCF
within an established time frame whenever a child in foster
care has gone missing or spent any overnight period in a
facility under the control of the contractor. Within specific time
frames of receipt of a contractor’s notice, DCF would be
required to notify the Governor, each member of the
Legislature, and the official newspaper of the county where a
child went missing, if any, or in a newspaper of general
circulation in such county. The bill would address the
information to be contained in a contractor’s report to DCF
and the subsequent notice provided by DCF to the specified
parties.
The bill would also require DCF to assess a $500 fine
against a contractor for each day the contractor fails to report
as required in the bill. The assessed fines received by DCF
would be deposited in the State General Fund (SGF).
Further, the bill would authorize DCF to adopt rules and
regulations as necessary to implement and administer the
provisions of the bill.

Contractor Notice to DCF
A contractor would be required to notify DCF within a
time period established by DCF, not to exceed 24 hours, of
____________________
*Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research
Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental
note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at
http://www.kslegislature.org
any time the contractor knows or has reason to know that a
child in foster care for whom the contractor has case
management responsibility has gone missing or spent any
overnight period in a facility under the contractor’s control. A
contractor’s report to DCF of a missing child in foster care for
whom the contractor has responsibility would be required to
include the age and sex of the child, the location where the
child went missing, if a different placement was previously
determined to be more appropriate for the child but was
unavailable for any reason, and any other information
required by DCF.
A contractor’s report to DCF regarding any child who
spent an overnight period in a facility under the control of a
contractor would be required to include the reasons the child
spent such overnight period in such facility.

DCF Report and Notice Requirement
DCF would be required to add information regarding
which, if any, of the top five recommendations by the Child
Welfare System Task Force have been implemented or
addressed by the Legislature to the report of missing foster
care children or foster care children spending any overnight
period in a facility under the control of a contractor.
After receiving a contractor’s notice of a missing child in
foster care or a child in foster care who spent any overnight
period in a facility under the control of the contractor, DCF
would be required to notify:
● The Governor within 24 hours of receiving such
notice; and
● Each member of the Legislature and the official
newspaper of the county where the child went
missing or, if there is no official newspaper in the
county, a newspaper of general circulation in such
county within 48 hours of receiving such notice.

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Background
The bill was introduced by the Senate Committee on
Public Health and Welfare at the request of Senator
Baumgardner. In the Senate Committee hearing, Senator
Baumgardner testified in support of the bill stating the bill
would provide additional transparency and assure the
Executive branch, the Legislative branch, and the general
public receive timely information about delays in out-of-home
placement and the children who have left their out-of home
placement.
Opponent testimony was provided by a DCF
representative who explained the current procedures in place
to address the reporting of and investigation into the children
in DCF custody who are missing. The DCF representative
stated the daily updates the Secretary for Children and
Families receives could easily be shared with the Governor’s
Office without a statutory change. The DCF representative
expressed concern regarding the disclosure of confidential
information on the missing children in violation of
confidentiality laws relating to children’s identities that might
place the federal Title IV-E funds related to child welfare at
risk.
No other testimony was provided.
The Senate Committee amended the bill to clarify the
required time frame for a contractor to notify DCF of a foster
care child who is missing or spent any overnight period in a
facility under the control of the contractor and the time frame
for DCF to subsequently notify the required parties; remove
the requirement to publish such report in the applicable
newspaper; and specify the information to be provided in the
report.
The Senate Committee of the Whole made technical
amendments to the bill.

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 According to the fiscal note prepared by the Division of
the Budget on the bill, as introduced, DCF indicates much of
this monitoring is already being done and estimates
enactment of the bill would result in 40 notices per month at a
cost of $100 per notice. DCF also states enactment would put
federal funding at risk because of non-compliance with
confidentiality laws. First, providing this information to the
entire Legislature would expose this information to members
not authorized to receive it. Second, publishing this
information in newspapers would be in violation of
confidentiality laws related to children’s identities. DCF
currently receives approximately $55.1 million per year in Title
IV-E funds related to child welfare that would have to be
replaced with SGF.
DCF indicates it is unable to determine the number of
fines that would be imposed on contractors for not notifying
DCF of a missing child. However, imposing significant fines
against the contractors could jeopardize their financial
position which, in turn, could impact the quality of services
provided to DCF clients or even create liquidity issues for
them. DCF states this could result in higher future rates or
bail-outs of the contractors to prevent any resulting adverse
effect to the clients. Any fiscal effect associated with
enactment of the bill is not reflected in The FY 2020
Governor’s Budget Report.


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