By MADELINE FOX

Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer signed into law a measure allowing faith-based adoption and foster care agencies to get state reimbursement for placement services — even if they turn away prospective parents on religious grounds.

Colyer and the head of Kansas’ child welfare agency, Department for Children and Families Secretary Gina Meier-Hummel, have said they want to keep Kansas open to as many adoption agencies as possible as the state grapples with a record number of kids in foster care. As of April, there were 2,540 Kansas children in DCF custody up for adoption.

“It is imperative that we have policies and law that encourages more child placement agencies, not less,” said Colyer, flanked by conservative Republican lawmakers for the bill signing Friday at Youth Horizons Kinloch Price Boys Ranch in Valley Center.

Opponents of the measure object to taxpayer dollars going to agencies that won’t serve all Kansas families, calling it state-sponsored discrimination.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Barnett, who sent out a statement immediately after the bill was signed, said it could lead to fewer adoptions of Kansas kids, as single parents and same-sex couples are turned away.

Kansas Democrats also chimed in, taking aim at Colyer and independent state Sen. John Doll, who is gubernatorial candidate Greg Orman’s running mate, for supporting the measure.

The Legislature only narrowly passed the adoption bill earlier this month, with debate over the religious protections going into the wee hours, and the issue could be pivotal in the upcoming campaigns for governor and the Kansas House.

The state’s major contractors still must serve all prospective foster parents and adoptive families referred to them, but their subcontractors do not.

A spokeswoman for St. Francis Community Services, one of the state’s two case management contractors, said of the 2,043 children it currently has placed with foster families, 288 were placed through faith-based subcontractors. The agency does not subcontract adoptions through any other child placement agency.

KVC, the state’s other case management contractor, wasn’t able to provide data by deadline.

Even before the law was signed, child placement agencies that refuse to place children with same-sex couples, single parents or non-Christians could get state reimbursement for adoptions they facilitate on behalf of a DCF contractor.

The new law, however, means that future administrations won’t be able to shut out subcontractors that factor their organizations’ religious views into choosing adoptive and foster parents.

Similar policies in other states have prompted legal pushback. The ACLU sued Michigan in 2017 over its practice of permitting state-contracted child placement agencies to reject qualified same-sex couples based on the agencies’ religious beliefs.

Madeline Fox is a reporter for the Kansas News Service. You can reach her on Twitter @maddycfox. Kansas News Service reporter Brian Grimmett contributed to this report.

CAMDEN, Mo. (AP) — Authorities allege a Kansas man was intoxicated when the boat he was operating struck a rock bluff on the Lake of the Ozarks in central Missouri, killing three friends.

Hayden Frazier, 22, of Overland Park, was released from jail Sunday morning. He was arrested Saturday on three preliminary charges of boating while intoxicated involving a death of another person. It wasn’t immediately clear when formal charges will be filed.

The Missouri Highway Patrol on Sunday identified says the three victims who were killed: 23-year-old Joseph LeMark, of Overland Park; 24-year-old Daniel Lewis, of Overland Park; and 21-year-old Hailey Hochanadel, of Olathe.

Authorities say 21-year-old Ashley Lamb, of Olathe, was in serious condition after being flown to a Springfield, Missouri, hospital. She is a student at Kansas State, according to the University Student Directory.

The crash happened before 2 a.m. Saturday, throwing three people into the water, authorities said. All five people involved were friends who graduated from high school in Olathe.

Accident reports say Frazier, Hochanadel and LeMark were ejected into the water in the crash that happened before 2 a.m. Saturday. State Patrol Sgt. Scott White said Frazier climbed back aboard and paddled the 1991 Regal Runabout across the channel to a dock at Simmons Point.

A neighbor called to report the incident.
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CAMDEN, Mo. (AP) – Officials say at least three people have died and others have been injured in a boat crash on Lake of the Ozarks in central Missouri.

The Kansas City Star reports that the crash happened just before 2 a.m. Saturday. The Missouri Highway Patrol says the bodies of three victims had been recovered by midday Saturday.

Investigators say the crash is believed to have happened when the boat hit a rock bluff.

The patrol says one occupant of the boat was taken to a Springfield hospital in critical condition. Officials say another person was taken to a lake-area hospital with injuries not disclosed.

The names of those involved in the crash had not been released by Saturday afternoon.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A citizens panel is offering two options for Kansas City to could honor Martin Luther King Jr.

The panel said Sunday it supported renaming Kansas City International Airport after King. Its second option is renaming 63rd Street, which runs east to west through both wealthy and impoverished neighborhoods.

The Kansas City Star report s the panel found strong support for both options. Kansas City is one of the largest cities in the U.S. that has no public monument honoring King.

Airport Aviation Director Patrick Klein urged the city not to rename the airport. He said in a statement it would be a mistake to remove Kansas City from the airport’s name. He said it would confuse passengers and make it difficult to market Kansas City nationally and internationally.

WEBSTER COUNTY — A Missouri man died in an accident just after 8p.m. Sunday in Webster County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 1994 Toyota 4-Runner driven by Daniel E. Wardwell, 47, Seymour, was northbound on Highway BB three miles south of Seymour. The SUV ran off the road a struck a tree.

Wardwell was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Holman Howe Funeral Home. He was properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the MSHP.

CLAYCOMO, Mo. (AP) – Workers at a suburban Kansas City Ford plant are going back to work after a two-week shutdown.

Employees at Ford’s Claycomo plant were back to work Monday.

The plant was shut down after a fire May 2 at Michigan factory caused a parts shortage for Ford plants.

The Claycomo plant makes the Ford F-150 truck.

Production at the company’s Michigan plant resumed Friday.

LINN COUNTY — One person died in an accident just before 2p.m. Sunday in Linn County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2007 Chevy Silverado driven by Robert Lee Brown, 21, Hume, MO, was westbound on 300 Road seven miles west of Prescott.

The pickup rear-ended and drove over a 49 CC Super Chopper mini bike driven by Kayden Blaes Samyn, 11, Mound City.

Samyn was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Frontier Forensics.  Brown was not wearing a seat belt and not injured, according to the KHP.  Samyn was wearing a helmet.