Gina Meier-Hummel

Kansas child welfare officials are planning to restructure the way they contract for foster care and other child welfare services, and are asking the public to weigh in this week before moving forward.

Secretary Gina Meier-Hummel was hired in early December to assume leadership of the beleaguered Kansas Department for Children and Families (DCF). The department has come under scrutiny in the last year after a July 2016 state audit of the foster care system highlighted areas of concern, including lack of adequate oversight of contractors providing foster care services.