WE Blog

In response to the shocking Kaufman house case in Newton, the Legislature unanimously approved and sent to Gov. Kathleen Sebelius a bill that provides better oversight of group homes for the mentally ill and disabled and prompt investigations of abuse and neglect allegations.
The law sets up a new investigative unit within the Kansas attorney general’s office that would have authority to act on abuse reports filed with the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services and other state agencies.
The final bill doesn’t go as far as previous versions that would have established a more formal partnership between the attorney general’s office and the Disability Rights Center of Kansas, but this bill at least gives the attorney general’s office the authority to follow up on confirmed cases of abuse and to employ outside private agencies such as the center, which was instrumental in investigating the Kaufmans and bringing them to justice after years of official delay.
Posted by Randy Scholfield