SESSION OF 2021
SUPPLEMENTAL NOTE ON HOUSE BILL NO. 2345
As Amended by House Committee on Children
and Seniors

Brief*
HB 2345, as amended, would create the Office of the
Child Advocate for Children’s Protection and Services (Office)
within the Legislative Branch.

Purpose
The bill would state the purpose of the Office is to
ensure that children and families receive adequate
coordination of child welfare services, for child maltreatment
prevention, protection, and care through services offered by
the Department for Children and Families (DCF), the
Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS), the
Department of Corrections (KDOC), the Department of Health
and Environment (KDHE), and the Office of Judicial
Administration (OJA), and the bill would direct that the Child
Advocate is to perform the duties required by the bill
independently from such departments and offices under
review by the Office and report directly to the Legislature.
Definitions
The bill would provide the following definitions:
● “Child” would mean any child in the custody of the
Secretary for Children and Families (Secretary) or
who may be alleged to be a child in need of care,
____________________
*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
 as provided in the Revised Kansas Code for Care
of Children (CINC Code); and
● “Office” would mean the Office of the Child
Advocate for Children’s Protection and Services
within the Legislative Branch that includes the
Child Advocate and staff.
Structure of the Office
The Office would be administered by and under the
direct supervision of the Child Advocate, who would be jointly
appointed by the Governor and the Chief Justice of the
Kansas Supreme Court, subject to confirmation by the
Senate, for a term of six years or until a successor has been
appointed and confirmed. The Child Advocate would serve
under the direction of the Legislature, and employees in the
Office would be employed by and be responsible to the Child
Advocate, who would fix the compensation of each employee
subject to the approval of the Legislative Coordinating
Council (LCC).
The bill would require the Child Advocate be a person
holding a current relevant license authorizing the person to
work as a licensed professional case manager, behavioral
health professional, or attorney for a child in need of care, or
having seven or more years of experience in the field of child
welfare.
The Child Advocate would:
● Be in the unclassified service and receive
compensation, which could be increased but not
diminished during such service, as determined by
the LCC, and changes in compensation could be
recommended by the House Committee on
Children and Seniors, the Senate Committee on
Public Health and Welfare, or any relevant joint
committee; and

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 ● Receive travel expenses and subsistence expense
reimbursement and allowances as provided for
members of the Legislature when attending any
authorized meeting or business outside the City of
Topeka.
Annual Report; Confidentiality
The bill would require the Child Advocate, on or before
the first day of each Legislative Session beginning in 2022, to
submit an annual report to the Governor, the House
Committee on Children and Seniors, the Senate Committee
on Public Health and Welfare, relevant joint committees, and
OJA. The bill would require the report to include the number
of complaints received by the Office, the disposition of such
complaints, the number of children involved in such
complaints, the state entities named, and whether such
complaints were found substantiated and any
recommendations for improving delivery of child welfare
services to reduce complaints or improving the function of the
Office. The bill would prohibit the report from including names
or personally identifiable information of children, guardians, or
families in complaints, and the report would not be subject to
change by the above-named committees, but the committees
could request additional information gathered as part of the
report, but not included in the written report, be added to
subsequent copies of the report or distributed separately.
The bill would prohibit such annual reports from being
disclosed pursuant to the Kansas Open Records Act (KORA),
or any other law, until:
● The time of the next scheduled meeting of either
the House Committee on Children and Seniors or
the Senate Committee on Public Health and
Welfare held after distribution of the report to
members of such committee; or


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 ● The time of the next scheduled meeting of another
legislative committee held after distribution of the
report to the members of such committee, as
authorized by the House Committee on Children
and Seniors or the Senate Committee on Public
Health and Welfare.
The bill would state the Office would be subject to the
CINC Code, the Revised Kansas Juvenile Justice Code
(Juvenile Code), and any federal statutory disclosure
restrictions and confidentiality requirements applicable to the
state agency or other entity providing information to the
Office, with regard to the information received from the
agency or other entity.
The bill would state the provisions providing for
confidentiality of records would expire on July 1, 2026, unless
the Legislature reviews and reenacts the provisions, pursuant
to KORA, prior to July 1, 2026.

Duties and Powers of the Child Advocate and the Office
The bill would require the Child Advocate to:
● Address complaints made by or on behalf of a child
that relate to state agencies and service providers,
including contractors, subcontractors, and any
juvenile court that may adversely affect the health,
safety, welfare, or civil or human rights of such
child;
● Establish a procedure for receiving, processing,
responding to, and resolving such complaints;
● Compile, collect, and preserve a record of
complaints received and processed, which may
reveal concerning patterns to be addressed;


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● Submit any findings and recommendations to DCF
and recommend changes to the agency’s policies
and procedures to improve the delivery of child
welfare services;
● Receive and exchange records as provided in the
CINC Code and the Juvenile Code and make
inquiries and review relevant information and
records the Office deems necessary for required
investigations;
● Recommend changes to policies, procedures, or
adopted or proposed rules and regulations of any
state or local agency that adversely affect or may
adversely affect the health, safety, welfare, or civil
or human rights of any child;
● Analyze and monitor the development and
implementation of federal, state, and local laws,
rules and regulations, and policies with respect to
child welfare services in the state and recommend
changes in such to DCF, KDADS, KDHE, KDOC,
JOA, the Legislature, and the Governor;
● Inform and educate children and their guardians
and families of each child’s rights and entitlements
under federal and state laws; and
● Fulfill its responsibilities guided by generally
accepted principles of best practices in child
welfare.
The bill would allow the Office to:
● Access records as provided in the CINC Code and
the Juvenile Code related to complaints received;
● Access all written reports of child abuse and
neglect maintained by the Secretary related to
complaints received;

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● Communicate privately with any child or child’s
siblings, after consultation with treatment
professionals and service providers and with
anyone working with the child, including the family,
relatives, employees of DCF, KDADS, juvenile
courts, and other persons or entities providing
treatment and child welfare services to such child;
● Work in conjunction with guardians ad litem;
● File any of the Office’s findings or reports regarding
a parent or child with the appropriate court with
jurisdiction over a child in need of care case
involving such child, and issue recommendations
regarding the disposition of an investigation to the
court and to the investigating agency, but the Office
would be prohibited from intervening in divorce,
protection from abuse, juvenile offender, child in
need of care, administrative hearings, civil, or
criminal proceedings;
● File amicus curiae briefs of the findings and
recommendations of the Office in appeals from
child in need of care matters;
● Utilize the resources of the Office of the Attorney
General, as necessary, to carry out any duties of
the Child Advocate and receive legal counsel or
services;
● Initiate meetings with personnel from DCF,
KDADS, and juvenile courts;
● Apply for and accept grants, gifts, and bequests of
moneys from other state, interstate, or federal
agencies; independent authorities; private firms;
individuals; or foundations to carry out the Child
Advocate’s duties and responsibilities. The bill
would provide requirements for deposit and
expenditure of such moneys;

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 ● Establish local panels on a regional or county basis
to adequately and efficiently carry out the functions
and duties of the Office and address complaints in
a timely manner as appropriate; and
● Conduct an independent review of any policy,
procedure, or practice that is the subject of a
complaint submitted as provided in this section.
The bill would specify any duty of action of the Child
Advocate provided in the bill would be independent of the
judicial and executive branches of government, and that
nothing in the bill would create a just cause for delay of court
proceedings or excuse any court, district attorney, guardian
ad litem, or other agency from their duties in proceedings
related to a child. Additionally, no review of any complaint
would require any licensed professional to engage or not
engage in conduct required or prohibited by any governing
professional code of responsibility or conduct.

Immunity; Retaliation; Prohibited Actions
The bill would specify that any employee of the Office
would be immune from suit and liability, both personally and
in official capacity, for the good faith performance of the
duties described above.
Any person who knowingly takes “reprisal or retaliatory
action,” as defined in the bill, against a recipient of child
welfare services or an employee of DCF and its grantees,
KDADS, KDOC, KDHE, or juvenile courts for communication
made or information given to the Office for the purpose of
compliance with the bill would be guilty of a class A
nonperson misdemeanor.
The bill would prohibit employees of the Office from
knowingly disclosing false information or disclosing
confidential information without lawful authority.

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Budget
The bill would require the Child Advocate to prepare the
annual budget request for the Office and present such
request to the LCC, which could make any desired changes.
Upon approval of the request by the LCC, the Office would
submit the request to the Director of the Budget as other
budget requests are submitted. Expenditures from
appropriations to the Office would be made upon warrants of
the Director of Accounts and Reports issued pursuant to
vouchers approved by the Child Advocate or their designee.
The bill would direct the Secretary to enter into
agreements with the Office for provision of financial
assistance to the Office from available state and federal funds
of DCF to assist the Child Advocate in providing child
advocacy services in accordance with the bill. For each fiscal
year, beginning with FY 2022, the bill would require the
Secretary to include in DCF’s budget estimates the funds
provided to the Office during such fiscal year pursuant to the
bill, including funds to be appropriated from federal moneys
provided to DCF. Beginning with FY 2023, the bill would
require DCF to not provide less than the aggregate amount of
such funds provided to the Office the preceding fiscal year,
and to adjust the aggregate amounts to be provided to the
Office appropriately for increases attributed to inflation and
other applicable factors.

Access to Information
The bill would amend statutes in the CINC Code and the
Juvenile Code to add the Office to the list of entities with
access to official files, social files, information from agency
records, information in law enforcement records, records of
law enforcement officers and agencies, records of municipal
courts, and records, reports, and information obtained as part
of the juvenile intake and assessment process for juveniles.
[Note: Such access would be subject to continuing limits

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based on relevancy and other factors contained in these
statutes.]
The bill also would make technical amendments to these
statues to ensure consistency in statutory phrasing and
update a reference to the Commissioner of Juvenile Justice
to reflect agency reorganization.

Background
The bill was introduced by Representative Ousley and
17 additional representatives.

House Committee on Children and Seniors
In the House Committee hearing on February 17, 2021,
Senator Faust-Goudeau; representatives of Children’s
Alliance of Kansas, FosterAdopt Connect, Kansas Appleseed,
Kansas Kids Matter, and the Missouri Office of Child
Advocate; a foster parent; a former foster youth; and five
private citizens testified as proponents of the bill, stating that
establishing an office of the child advocate would provide the
opportunity to focus on issues within individual child care
situations before the occurrence of a negative outcome and
to offer recommendations for improvement in the child
welfare system to interested parties, agencies, and courts.
Written-only proponent testimony was submitted by a
representative of Cornerstones of Care and by two child
abuse pediatricians, a former foster parent, a former foster
youth, three social workers, and three residents.
Neutral testimony was submitted by a representative of
DCF. No opponent testimony was provided.
On February 22, 2021, the House Committee amended
the bill to:


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 ● Replace certain references to OJA with references
to juvenile courts;
● Add the Chief Justice of the Kansas Supreme
Court as a joint appointing authority for the Child
Advocate;
● Adjust the mandatory and permissive duties of the
Child Advocate;
● Clarify the Child Advocate’s relationship to the
judicial and executive branches and the duties of
other entities, officials, and professionals;
● Adjust the confidentiality requirements related to
the Office and its reports;
● Amend the definition of “child”;
● Add references to any relevant joint committee;
● Adjust the Office’s access to records and other
information; and
● Clarify statutory references.
Fiscal Information
According to the fiscal note prepared by the Division of
the the Budget on the bill, as introduced, Legislative
Administrative Services indicates enactment of the bill would
have a fiscal effect on the Legislature, and the costs would
total $848,457 from the State General Fund (SGF). The total
amount would include salary and fringe benefit expenditures
of $665,707 and 9.0 full-time equivalent (FTE) positions
including the Child Advocate, a Deputy Child Advocate, three
research analysts, and four administrative assistants, and
other operating costs of $79,750 for contractual services,
$8,000 for commodities, and $95,000 for capital outlay.

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 DCF estimates the bill would increase expenditures for
the agency by $187,178 from all funding sources, including
$141,806 from the SGF, for FY 2022; expenditures would
include salary and fringe benefit costs of $169,193 for 3.0
FTE program consultant positions and other operating
expenditures of $17,985. DCF would be responsible for
coordinating Office responses, performance improvement
efforts, and tracking.
KDADS indicates the bill would increase its salary and
fringe benefit expenditures and operating costs by $93,000
from the SGF for FY 2022. The additional expenditures would
be for 1.0 FTE position to research, track , and respond to
complaint inquiries.
OJA indicates enactment of the bill would require
additional resources to work with the Office and coordinate
requests for reports and records requests. The bill would also
require additional time to be spent by district court clerks
when records are requested. OJA state