Kansas investigates death of foster child, 13, in stolen truck as lawmaker calls for change

Kansas’ child welfare agency is investigating the death last week of a foster teen who left his residential treatment facility, stole a truck and crashed head-on into a tractor trailer.

The 13-year-old, who crashed on Oct. 27 in southeast Kansas, died of his injuries two days later in a Tulsa hospital, according to information from the Department for Children and Families.

The teen had gone to a Halloween party in Independence, Kansas, on the day of the crash, which was sponsored by Successful Dreams — a qualified residential treatment program where the foster teen was living.

After returning from the party, the teen left the residential facility in Parsons, Kansas, and went to a car dealership and stole the truck, child welfare officials and police said.

“The Department for Children and Families is investigating the incident,” according to a summary of facts released by DCF, “and is reviewing the facility to determine if there were any regulatory violations.”

As news of the foster teen’s death spread on Friday, a Republican lawmaker involved in child welfare issues called on Gov. Laura Kelly to remove Laura Howard as DCF secretary. The boy is the second teenager to run from foster care and end up dead since April.

Sen. Molly Baumgardner, of Louisburg, said she called for Howard’s ouster after “consultation with Senate leadership.”

“There have been ongoing concerns about the lack of transparency and accountability for the safety of our foster children,” Baumgardner said in a statement she gave to The Star. “The issues have grown more and more serious. To have two very young teens die within the last six months is unacceptable because they were in the care of DCF.”

The governor’s office responded Friday evening to Baumgardner’s request.

“This is a tragic case, and Governor Kelly has directed DCF to investigate what happened and whether any policy violations led to this accident,” said Brianna Johnson, the governor’s director of communications. “Any request for action before we know the full facts of the case is premature.”

Baumgardner’s call comes four days before the election as GOP Attorney General Derek Schmidt, who Baumgardner endorsed, challenges Kelly for the governor’s office. Polling this week showed Kelly and Schmidt in a dead heat heading into election day.

Schmidt has included foster care among his campaign issues. He’s argued Kelly didn’t do enough to fix the system. The only solution Schmidt has offered is putting the Office of Child Advocate in statute. Kelly created the office via executive order last year.

Rep. Jarrod Ousley, a Merriam Democrat, has worked closely with DCF in recent years and said he does not agree with Baumgardner that Kelly should remove Howard as secretary. During Howard’s time as DCF leader, he said, the number of children in care has dropped and focus has intensified on placing kids in kinship care.

The system also has made inroads in meeting many standards — though not all — outlined in a class action lawsuit settlement.

“Our child welfare system in the state of Kansas has made vast improvements with Laura Howard at the helm,” Ousley said. “And a tragedy is a tragedy no matter who’s at the helm and we should always have accountability. But, in this situation, I think that Laura Howard has done a good job.”

Ousley and Baumgardner both serve on the Joint Committee on Child Welfare Oversight.

Baumgardner said she anticipated that “there will be some concerns about timeliness” of her call that Howard be removed. But she said the timing was dictated by Kelly and Howard. The child died last week, Baumgardner said, but news of the incident didn’t circulate until Friday.

DCF did not respond to questions from The Star about when the agency first released information about the teen and whether officials should have informed the public about his death when it happened.

In a news release sent out by the Parsons Police Department on Monday, authorities said the teen was reported as a “runaway from Successful Dreams.”

On Oct. 27, Parsons police officers responded to help the Labette County Sheriff’s Department with a “head on collision” between a pickup truck and a tractor trailer, the release said.

“Responding officers found a 2022 GMC Sierra pickup with a 13-year-old juvenile in the driver’s seat,” the release said. “Officers rendered lifesaving measures until Labette County EMS arrived at the scene. EMS transported the juvenile to Labette Health to stabilize him before being flown to another facility.”

Parsons Police Chief Robert Spinks said he learned later that the juvenile did not survive.

“These crashes are never easy,” Spinks said in the release. “They are hard for the emergency responder that must work them. They are hard for the community to hear about but most of all they are impossible for the families to comprehend. …This hit our community hard. My sympathies go out to everyone involved.”

Similar heartbreak hit the Kansas City area earlier this year.

Ace Scott’s body was found April 15, four days after officials said the teen ran away from an office for Cornerstones of Care, one of four state contractors that handle foster care. News of the teen’s death wasn’t released until early May when The Star inquired about the foster teen.

State officials said then that the teen had a medical condition and police said no foul play was suspected.

In the fall of 2017, the same year Ace came into care, Kansas’ child welfare system was under intense scrutiny by lawmakers in Topeka after they learned dozens of foster children had run away and were missing from care. When Howard and her administration took over DCF in January 2019, runaway foster children became a key focus, officials said.

The state began reporting the daily number of kids missing from care on its website and soon began building a Special Response Team, which has grown from two people to 12 statewide.

The average daily number of kids missing from care is roughly between 60 and 70 for the entire state. You can find the daily report here.

Late Friday afternoon, Teresa Woody, the litigation director at Kansas Appleseed, said it was “heartbreaking to learn that yet another child has died after running away from a placement.”

“Children in foster care run away when they are not receiving the support and care they need, especially mental health care,” Woody said. “The Kansas foster care system continues to fail children, as it has for many years.

“All stakeholders — including the legislative and executive branches, Department for Children and Families, and its contractors — must be willing to devote the necessary resources to provide the care Kansas children so desperately need, regardless of who holds office.”