BY: RACHEL MIPRO Kansas Reflector
Correction: St. Francis Ministries will still operate in Kansas, outside of Sedgwick County. This story misstated the change. (Saint Francis will continue to serve two regions within Kansas. One region pertains to western Kansas (Area 1), while the other encompasses the north-central part of the state (Area 2). With the upcoming contract changes, all providers in the State of Kansas will serve no more than two catchment areas each).
TOPEKA – The Kansas Department for Children and Families has announced new contracts for foster care services in the state. St. Francis Ministries, a faith-based nonprofit accused of financial mismanagement, will not have its contract renewed.
In Sedgwick County, which accounts for approximately 20% of children in care statewide, EmberHope will replace Saint Francis Ministries starting in July. The new contracts will be in place from July 1 to June 30, 2028.
DCF Secretary Laura Howard said EmberHope would work to support children and families in the area.
“We believe our contracted partners are committed to a practice model that guides team members to engage families and create lifetime support networks,” Howard said.
The change comes after years of investigation into St. Francis. In 2022, the former CEO and IT director of Saint Francis Ministries was indicted and accused of plotting to defraud the foster care provider of millions. Robert “Father Bobby” Smith was also accused of using Saint Francis credit cards to pay for personal expenses, including clothing and jewelry.
The state’s longstanding foster care problems — such as high numbers of children in the system sleeping in offices and social workers spending their time shuttling kids from place to place — include simple volume. The national rate of entry into foster care is 2.37 per 1,000 children, but the rate of entry in Kansas is 4.36 per 1,000 children, according to February 2023 data.
State contracts require caseworkers to maintain a maximum caseload of 25 to 30 children, but they frequently exceed that number. Data from 2021 showed 42% of Saint Francis Ministries caseworkers and 24% of KVC Kansas caseworkers were assigned more than 30 children. Saint Francis also had more than 100 children who were not assigned a caseworker.
Howard said the new contracts will adjust caseload standards for case managers, setting the rate at 12-15 cases of children in foster care or kinship care and eight cases of children in treatment foster care per manager.
As of Monday, DCF has 5,895 children in foster care, the smallest number of children in care since January 2014.
Case management providers, known as CMP, provide foster care services for families across the state. The current four contractors are TFI, KVC Kansas, Cornerstones of Care, and – until July – Saint Francis Ministries.