For Immediate Release

October 11, 2017

For more information, contact:

Theresa Freed
Director of Communications
Kansas Department for Children and Families
785-296-0537

DCF Highlights Procedures Involving Missing and Runaway Children

State has proper protocols in place to identify and locate runaway youth from State care

TOPEKA - The Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF) on Wednesday, Oct. 11, issued
more information on the agencys policies and procedures for handling situations involving missing
and runaway children.

The DCF Policy and Procedure Manual (5245) outlines the departments guidelines for handling
situations involving children missing from the foster care system. The policy presents clear guidelines
for the reporting of a missing child, including the filing of a missing persons reports, notification of the
childs biological and foster families, the legal steps to be taken with the court and weekly check-ins
with local law-enforcement. The departments policy also provides steps to be taken after the childs
safe return.

The full language of the policy can be found here:

http://content.dcf.ks.gov/PPS/robohelp/PPMGenerate/ (search 5245 in search bar).

We made the decision to highlight the protocol for handling situations involving runaways and
missing children because of questions that arose during the final minutes of the Child Welfare System
Task Force meeting on Tuesday, DCF Secretary Phyllis Gilmore said. We want to assure the public
that protocols are in place, and have been for many years, to ensure that when children run away
from their foster care placement, every effort is made to locate them and return them to a safe and
appropriate foster care home or facility.

There are more than 7,000 children in the foster care system, Secretary Gilmore said. These
children who run away are not under lock and key; they are generally in family foster homes, older
Strong Families Make a Strong Kansas
youth, who attend school and activities, and they often miss their biological families. We work closely
with our foster care contractors, law enforcement, the school system and affected families to locate
missing children as quickly as possible.

While it is unfortunate when any child runs away from the foster care system; this issue is not unique
to Kansas. In our state, 1 percent of children in foster care are considered missing, which correlates
with the national average. Often, children who run away are located quickly and returned in a short
amount of time. In some cases, the missing children are considered on the run with a parent who is
attempting to keep them from State care.

DCF maintains monthly reports on this issue.

DCF and its contracted partners, KVC and Saint Francis Community Services, take seriously their
obligation to protect children. We encourage anyone who has information about missing children,
from foster care or otherwise, to contact the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-
800-843-5678. Visit www.missingkids.com to learn more about the Kansas children missing.

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