House Status:
Senate Status:
Senate Status:
Minutes for HB2524 - Committee on Child Welfare and Foster Care
Short Title
Permitting the secretary for children and families to license family foster homes when certain persons reside in such home and creating an appeal process for family foster homes when licenses are not granted.
Minutes Content for Mon, Feb 2, 2026
The Chair opened the hearing on HB2524.
Jessie Pringle, Assistant Revisor, gave the bill brief for HB2524 which modifies the statute used by DCF to license family foster home applicants. (Attachment 3) Ms. Pringle stood for questions from the committee.
The following gave proponent testimony:
Jonathan Stahl, Private Citizen, spoke on his family's experience with licensing restrictions that negatively affected their son and that place families in difficult positions. (Attachment 4) There were no questions for Mr. Stahl.
Rebecca Gerhardt, Director of Permanency and Licensing, DCF, spoke in support but requested changes in language to maintain continuance of a license as well as allowing discretion in establishing a new license. She also asked for more clarity in language about restrictions. (Attachment 5) Ms. Gerhardt stood for questions from the committee.
Angela Hedrick, VP of Operations, KVC Kansas spoke on the difficult choices foster families have to make when a foster child can no longer stay in a home because of age or other restrictions. (Attachment 6) (Attachment 7) Ms. Hedrick stood for questions from the committee.
Kerrie Lonard, Child Advocate, Office of the Child Advocate (OCA) said the OCA supports the bill but proposed language changes for a pathway to evaluate safety concerns. (Attachment 8) Ms. Lonard stood for questions from the committee.
Kristalle Hedrick, CEO, Children's Alliance of Kansas, said the bill allows kids a chance for permanency after foster care. (Attachment 9) Ms. Hedrick stood for questions from the committee.
Matt Stephens, VP of Advocacy, Saint Francis Ministries, submitted written-only proponent testimony. (Attachment 10)
No opponent testimony was submitted.
No neutral testimony was submitted.
The Chair closed the hearing on HB2524,
