‘An intervention.’ Kansas lawmaker angered over foster child’s case calls for action

Angered by what she said is happening to a foster child in Gardner, a Kansas lawmaker lashed out at the state’s child welfare agency Tuesday, saying it must be stopped from hurting more kids.

Sen. Molly Baumgardner, a Louisburg Republican, called on the Department for Children and Families to crack down on one foster care contractor by blocking more children from being placed through the agency and clawing back state dollars paid to it.

She also urged the Division of Child Advocate to get involved in the case and keep the little girl — who will turn 3 later this month — from being removed from the foster home she’s lived in since she was three days old and placed in an adoptive home with three biological siblings.

Nicole and John DeHavens’ foster daughter has never lived with those siblings and has only been around them during play dates. Cornerstones of Care, the contractor, wants to keep the siblings together in a permanent placement.

The DeHavens and other foster families and lawmakers say the move could be harmful to the toddler, who has built connections to the DeHavens and her foster brother, who is one month younger than her.

“This is an intervention,” Baumgardner told reporters inside the state capitol. “We are here today as legislators because this is an intervention, a foster care intervention.”

Baumgardner spoke at a news conference Tuesday morning held by the Joint Committee on Child Welfare Oversight, of which she is a member. After “much public outcry and desire,” lawmakers called for a special meeting of the joint committee, which will likely convene Oct. 26, said Rep. Susan Concannon, a Beloit Republican.

“This gives us an opportunity to sit down at a meeting and take a deeper look at this case, and maybe have an understanding of how these decisions are made,” Concannon said. “And how the decisions regarding kinship, how that connects with the idea of attachment.”

Concannon said the case was representative of similar stories she and other lawmakers have heard from foster parents across the state.

Mike Deines, a DCF spokesman, said because a judge has “determined the next steps in this case, we are bound by law to work with our partners to ensure the case is managed as ordered.”

“Every day we strive to do the best for children in complex situations,” Deines said. “We will continue supporting the children in our care, including by reviewing policies around how kinship — including sibling relationships — and attachment are considered in care decisions. We will also continue working with Cornerstones of Care to improve their communication with families.”

Cornerstones of Care told The Star it could not comment on a specific case but provided general information on the policy aimed at keeping siblings together.

“Our recommendations to keep siblings together are based on multiple research studies and evidence that siblings raised together experience better long-term, healthy outcomes,” Cornerstones of Care spokesman Jon Ratliff said in an email. “Further, these recommendations align with the child welfare policies in the state of Kansas and the Department of Children and Families, which are developed to consider long-term best interests of the child.”

The DeHavens spoke to the joint committee last month, detailing how they say Cornerstones of Care told them that they cannot adopt their foster daughter because the Gardner couple was unable to adopt her three biological siblings as well. The contractor has told the DeHavens that the plan now is for the four children to be adopted by a family none of them know.

The little girl would have to leave the boy she knows as her brother. He was just six days old when he began living at the DeHaven home and has since been adopted by the couple.

“I can’t even tell him, you know?” Nicole DeHaven said, her voice breaking. “... I can’t even explain what could potentially be happening. They wouldn’t understand that.”

Last week, The Star wrote about the girl and the frustration the case has generated with foster parents, lawmakers and child advocates. Critics of the decision say Cornerstones of Care — one of four contractors who handle foster care services in Kansas — and DCF are ignoring what’s best for the child and her siblings and advocating instead for what looks good on paper.

In this case, foster families and lawmakers question why Cornerstones has taken so long to decide on permanent placement. If the contractor and the state knew that in the end the four children needed to be adopted together, they ask, why wasn’t that done sooner? Why didn’t Cornerstones move more quickly to keep the little girl from building a bond with a family during her first three years of life?

And why move the other three away from the schools, friends and sporting teams that they’ve grown attached to since 2019?

Baumgardner called Cornerstones of Care a “bad actor” in the Kansas foster care system. She said the contractor was responsible for a large portion of the children sleeping in child welfare offices, because other placement could not be found, and had “absolutely bungled” the DeHaven case.

She blamed the contractor for the April death of a foster teen who ran away from an office they were staying in.

Gathered inside the state capitol, members of the Joint Committee said DCF officials were not truthful in information they provided the panel regarding the DeHavens’ fight to keep their foster daughter.

“In the last couple of months we are receiving information that is false,” said Rep. Tim Johnson, a Basehor Republican and former police officer. “That is inconceivable to me. And I would like to see an opportunity to put some of the witnesses from the staff under oath. Let’s find out what the veracity of their statements really are. Because these kids are so special. We can’t afford to lose one of them.”

Deines said DCF cannot talk publicly about specific details in a case.

“At the request of the joint committee, DCF reviewed this case and provided a confidential response to their concerns,” Deines said. “We stand ready to provide additional information to the committee in a closed session.”

Baumgardner pointed to the mission and duty of the Kansas Division of Child Advocate, which Gov. Laura Kelly established one year ago. That office can intervene to prevent harm to a child or family, she said, and should.

“If that child in the DeHaven home is taken away — and keep in mind she has spent every night of her life in that home for what will be three years at the end of this month — I believe she will be harmed,” Baumgardner said. “I believe the little adopted boy that she calls brother will be harmed.

“… I believe this little girl’s siblings that she hasn’t spent her life with will be harmed if they are forced to fit into a decision by a system that is broken.”

Baumgardner said she spoke only for herself when she called for punishment to Cornerstones of Care and said she wanted to see the contract terminated.

The full committee, Baumgarnder and Concannon said, had not discussed those issues.

Furthermore the press conference only included the Republican members of the committee. None of the four Democrats were in attendance.

Sen. Oletha Faust-Goudeau, a Wichita Democrat who serves on the committee, told the Star she knew only a little about the case because of her geographical distance from it.

“At this point I’ll say that to get to the bottom of the issue that perhaps a special committee meeting is warranted,” she said.