Kansas lawmaker wants to set up new foster care program

Topeka, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas state senator wants to create a new foster care program that would provide higher state reimbursements to married couples who don't smoke or drink, regularly attend church services or other social group meetings and either homeschool or send the foster children to private schools.

The program proposed by Republican Sen. Forrest Knox, of Altoona, would require a "husband and wife team" to have been married faithfully for more than seven years and for at least one spouse to not work outside the home, The Wichita Eagle reported. Knox said the program would provide stability for children and that he hopes it would gradually replace the current foster care system.

Critics blasted the proposal for requiring a particular kind of lifestyle and rejecting non-traditional foster homes that provide excellent care. They also questioned a part of the bill that would set up a fund to reimburse the families in the CARE program at a "rate substantially higher than that of other foster care homes," which Knox said is necessary because the couples would have more requirements than other foster families.

A Senate panel is expected to discuss the bill Thursday.

"I think it could be problematic legally," Doug Bonney, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, told The Associated Press. "First of all the provision that the family has to include a husband and a wife, that is a problem and that may well be unconstitutional as we sort out the gay marriage issue and this preferring opposite-sex couples is going to raise constitutional issues. It's also totally unnecessary. There are a lot of same-sex couples currently providing foster care at a very high level in Kansas."

Knox didn't immediately respond to a phone message Wednesday seeking comment. He and his wife have fostered and adopted four boys. He said social workers often tell him horror stories about other foster families.

"They said we were the only normal home that they visited," Knox said. "My conclusion is that we need more normal homes as foster homes. And how do you get normal? When I say normal, I just mean an ordinary home with a mom and dad who loves the kids."

He cited the 1950s sitcom "Leave it to Beaver" as an example of the types of families that would be part of the program.

Senate Vice President Jeff King, R-Independence, the chair of the Judiciary Committee, told the newspaper he would not comment on the bill before the hearing but Sen. David Haley, D-Kansas City, the committee's ranking minority member, had some concerns.

"If this is the Cadillac standard that they want to put in place for foster care child providers, why is it necessary to have a certain lifestyle in place?" Haley said. "Can't children be raised . by people who don't go to church every Sunday or couples that might imbibe with legal activities like alcohol or tobacco?"

Erin Teeter, director of foster care for Wichita Children's Home, said many other types of foster homes provide excellent care.

"My concern is that we're basing it entirely on morality," she said. "Mine and yours might be different perspectives. We have several homes in this community that are homes with maybe two dads that are fantastic homes. And at the same time we might have a home that is lackluster that fits this criteria. I don't think this is a criteria that shows a good foster home."

The proposal to pay the families the amount of average state aid per student for each of the children being educated outside the public school system, was criticized by Mark Tallman, spokesman for the Kansas Association of School Boards, who said it would be "providing funding with no accountability as to what the academic results would be" ant a time when the state is considering reducing education spending.

___

Information from: The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle, Wichita, KS.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

The Gayly – February 11, 2015 @ 12:25pm.