Since I am on my way to Kansas, it seems fitting to blog about these two stories coming out of Kansas right now.

The first story is on MSNBC.com. It says that child endangerment cases are on the rise in Sedgwick County, Kansas. This is the county that Wichita, KS is in.

The article says that Wichita Social Rehabilitation Services (SRS) is working an average of 100 more cases per month, and if this trend continues, they could work over six THOUSAND cases this year.

In a separate article on MSNBC.com it says that there is a shortage of foster homes. So where are all these “extra” kids supposed to go?

Both of these reports are prompted by two rather high profile cases in the Wichita area. In one case, four children were removed from an apartment where it was suspected that the parents were cooking methamphetamine as well. In the second case, four girls were taken into custody after one of the girls asked her neighbor to help her escape the house. When they searched the house, they found three children padlocked in a room covered in feces.

SRS credits increased media coverage to the rise in number of reported cases. They say that people see cases like this on the news and it encourages them to report suspected abuse.

With an average of 160 kids taken into custody each month, and only 26 homes licensed for emergency foster care, where are the kids going? They are going to the homes of overworked, and probably under trained foster parents.

Unfortunately, this problem is not exclusive to Kansas. In a story out of Travis County in Texas, a judge had to order that children not be allowed to sleep in the social services offices while awaiting a foster home. You mean we really had to have a court order for this? Since January, 2007, 474 kids have slept in the state social services office. That’s just from Travis County. How many other kids is this happening with?

Texas has seen a 45% rise of kids in care since 2001, and some shelters have had to be shut down, or a freeze on placements because they are not in compliance with state regulations. This leaves kids sleeping in state offices.

Why is there a shortage of foster homes? Could it be lack of training? Insufficient compensation for what foster parents are dealing with? The lack of support or services? A rise in the difficulty of issues that foster parents are dealing with? Or is it all of the above? Whatever the reason is, our kids are the ones who are suffering because of it.

As the article from Austin, TX points out. The order from the judges puts pressure on the department, but it doesn’t create homes for the kids to go to.

Photo credit