Kansas legislation to protect children to be seen in 2024 after death of Zoey Felix

After the rape and murder of 5-year-old Zoey Felix in Topeka on Monday, October 2, Mickel Cherry, a 25-year-old homeless man, was charged with child rape and capital murder by Shawnee County prosecutors. Felix had become homeless, herself, but prior to being homeless, she, according to neighbors, “pretty much took care of herself.” According to reporting from cjonline, neighbors claimed that Felix didn’t have loving parents and lived in a house that often lacked running water and electricity. It was also said that dog feces could regularly be found in the house.

The Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF) were called by neighbors for Zoey multiple times, and neighbors now say that “the system failed her.”

Now, with the release of the case summary, Senate President Ty Masterson (R-Andover) and House Speaker Dan Hawkins (R-Wichita) have issued a statement on October 17 regarding DCF’s failure.

“With the release of the case summary of the child death, it is clear that the Kelly/Toland Administration’s Department for Children and Families failed to protect Zoey Felix. The report indicates their agency had been called nine separate times on the wellbeing of Zoey Felix and yet failed to act to ensure her safety. This young child’s tragic death could have been prevented had the agency and this administration done their jobs.

In her campaign, Governor Kelly pledged to reform the foster care system and keep the children in state care safe; yet we still see children sleeping in offices, have children the agency cannot find, and we now know the agency had nine chances to protect Zoey Felix and failed.”

The statement finished by stating the Legislature will create an independent Office of Child Advocate this coming session in order to bring “real accountability to the child welfare system.”

“The system is failing multiple children, and its failure to protect Zoey Felix is the final indication that the only way to bring accountability is to create an independent office outside of this administration,” the statement concludes.

It’s important to understand what the Kansas Legislature is attempting to fix with this independent office, because there is a lot that needs to be looked at. In August of this year, the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) released its second annual report reviewing the progress in the State of Kansas in its work toward achieving its commitments under the McIntyre v. Howard Settlement Agreement. In 2022, it was found by the independent organization that the State and its contractors failed to make required improvements to Kansas’ foster care system.

Deputy Director for Kansas Appleseed Mike Fonkert noted the following key findings from the CSSP report in an August newsletter regarding the findings:

• Kansas did not stop housing foster youth overnight in provider offices. In fact, the number of nights youth spent in offices increased by 54 percent from 2021 to 2022, with 85 youth spending a total of 257 nights in case management provider offices last year. 

• Kansas did not meet several requirements for ensuring placement stability for youth in foster care. Although the State did meet one benchmark measuring the percentage of youth in foster care who were in a stable placement at the end of 2022, its performance declined for one-night and short-term placements, where children are quickly moved from one placement to another, as well as the total number of moves that children in care endure.

• Kansas did not meet the 2022 requirements relating to mental and behavioral health support. While performance did improve over 2021, of the cases reviewed, only 43 percent of youth entering care were properly and timely screened for trauma and mental health needs, and only 70 percent had their mental and behavioral health needs addressed.

• Kansas lacks a Comprehensive Child Welfare Information System (CCWIS) and instead relies on outdated and sometimes incompatible data systems. The lack of a statewide data system has led to a number of data challenges and impacted CSSP’s ability to validate State data and review individual children’s case files for purposes of the report.

“DCF will need to continue its efforts to thoughtfully examine why office placements continue to rise, why placement moves generally are trending in the wrong direction, and why too many children/youth do not have access to screenings and services to meet their mental and behavioral health needs,” CSSP wrote.

On January 8, 2024, the Kansas Legislature will convene for its annual session.