CEO of Youthville Met Today With Sunflower Community Action Group To Discuss Foster Care Services And Their Reintegration Failures

Pictured here:

Kansas State Representative

Melody McCray-Miller

Works For The People!

News Story From KAKE TV Channel 10 Wichita, KS
Saturday Nov. 14, 2009

The KAKE TV 10 report below is somewhat vague and didn't state all of the story. NOR did this story include all the comments made by Kansas State Representative Melody McCray-Miller who wanted to know WHY eligible grandparents are not getting custody of the children or being allowed to adopt the children. Youthville claimed that they do everything they can to reintegrate children with family members.

Sunflower stated that by law KSA 38-2263 which requires Youthville to have a reintegration permancy plan in place that clearly shows, whenever the option is viable to reintegrate, that the family have a plan stating the visitation progression with a date of reintegration. Sunflower stated that Youthville CEO Shelley Duncan told them in a meeting last month that Youthville has no such plan in place.

Sedgwick County has removed about 1,800 children so far this year and only reintegrated around 16% of those children and families.

http://kansasstatutes.lesterama.org/Chapter_38/Article_22/38-2263.html

Sunflower requested the following:

1. Minimum of 2 hours visits per week with their children in the home NOT at Youthville. Hours are to progress with a set schedule.
2. Visitation with parents should be outside of working hours so as not to interfere with parental employment.
3. All cancelled visits with parents require 48 hours notice with a rescheduled visit within 5 days.
4. All siblings included during visits so the children can see each other.
5. Parents have their own visit per week with their children and not be required to share visits with extended family members including grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.
   

Wichita, KS KAKE TV 10 News Story:

Parents Meet With Youthville To Discuss Concerns

A local group continues their push for changes in foster care guidelines in Sedgwick County. Parents met with leaders from Youthville Saturday to have their voices heard in this foster care fight.

The two sides got together to hash out their concerns. Some parents and grandparents say their children were removed from the home without evidence and that trying to get them back was very frustrating.

"I certainly understand the emotions these folks have," said Shelley Duncan, CEO of Youthville. "I mean, just imagine having your child taken away from your home. We really do want to work with them."

Several parents expressed their deep frustration at Friday's (this should say Saturday) meeting, saying Youthville needs to be overhauled and isn't working in the best interest of children to return them home.

"It needs to stop being subjective and be evidence-based," said Vaniece Crawford, a concerned parent. "There needs to be evidence that there really is a need because tax dollars are being wasted. We could put it to a more productive use and keep families together."

So far this year in Sedgwick County, nearly 1,800 children have been removed from their homes by S-R-S, with only about 16 percent of them being returned. At the meeting, Duncan said there are reasons to overhaul the system, but it won't be easy.

"It really is a philosophical shift in how our system is done. We have just done it this way for so many years," she said. "Not to blame anybody. It's just the way the system was developed for the best interests of kids. But I think it's time for us to look at how we can do things differently."

One state representative agreed.

"There's no doubt about it. Now realistically speaking, is that going to happen? The answer is no," said 89th District Rep. Melody McCray-Miller. "There are steps we can take collectively as a community in resolving some of the issues that cause some of the grief, the hurt, and the pain that you're feeling in the comments that you hear in a meeting like this."

Some of the parents at the meeting complained that Youthville cancels parental visits with no notice, refuses to reschedule those visits, and often schedules visits during parent's work hours. Youthville is currently the only agency that S-R-S contracts with to handle foster care and adoption services in Sedgwick County.


http://www.kake.com/home/headlines/70110342.html?storySection=comments