By NOMIN UJIYEDIIN

A new law standardizing Kansas’ response to child-on-child sexual assault could cost $126,000 and result in more than 3,200 treatment referrals a year.

The new statute also requires the department to document whether treatment was provided to the child accused of abuse, the reasons for needing it and the outcome.

The agency estimates 3,264 children a year would need to be referred to treatment. That estimate includes both foster children in the agency’s care and children who are the subject of reports from the DCF child abuse hotline.

Agency officials say the added counseling work means DCF will have to hire two more staff members at a cost of more than $126,000 per year for salary and benefits. The Legislature did not appropriate additional funding to pay those costs this year.

Republican state Sen. Molly Baumgardner of Overland Park introduced the bill after stories broke last year of foster children assaulting other children in DCF custody. She pressed to make sure the agency had a consistent response to such incidents.

“It was very disconcerting to me, learning that there wasn’t a set process,” she said. “We need all of our kids to be safe.”

Baumgardner said she was inspired by a similar law that passed in Missouri in 2015, requiring the state’s Children’s Division to perform assessments and offer voluntary services after receiving a report that one child sexually abused another.

The Kansas law also states that the services for children who commit abuse are voluntary — unless DCF determines that the risk of future sexual behavior problems is high if the child does not receive treatment. It defines “a child with sexual behavior problems” as a minor who has allegedly committed sexual abuse against another child.

DCF says it already has procedures in place for handling reports of abuse allegedly committed by children. In an email, a department spokesman said a worker first determines whether a report of abuse is substantiated and what kind of treatment might be needed. The information is also passed to a committee, who makes a final decision on the reliability of the report and the need for treatment for the child who allegedly committed the abuse.

Currently, law enforcement is also required to conduct an investigation of reported sexual abuse of a child.

Alicia Johnson-Turner, a special assistant to DCF secretary Laura Howard, said  DCF would only provide referrals, rather than direct treatment. She said the agency may pay for treatment on a case-by-case basis.

Johnson-Turner said two organizations in the state, in the Kansas City and Wichita areas, provide evidence-based treatment for children with problematic sexual behavior. She said children who live outside those areas may be referred to community mental health centers for psychotherapy.

“That might be targeted at sexual behavior,” she said. “It just wouldn’t be one of the evidence-based models.”

The Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault, based in Kansas City, Missouri, treats Kansas children who demonstrate age-inappropriate sexual behavior.

Such behaviors are different than a child’s curiosity about their own body, or consensual sexual behavior between teenagers of the same age, said MOCSA’s director of counseling services, Rene McCreary. It’s often caused by sexual abuse, early exposure to pornography or other types of trauma, such as witnessing domestic violence.

Children who demonstrate problematic sexual behavior — such as exposing themselves, touching other children’s genitals, using inappropriate language or gestures, or touching themselves in public — are unlikely to repeat it, she said.

“When kids act out in a sexual way, it’s pretty unusual for them to do it again,” McCreary said. “Especially after receiving treatment.”

But it’s still important for children to learn the social skills and impulse control taught at MOCSA’s 18-week program, she said. The treatment involves both group and individual therapy for children and their families. Children round out the program by writing an apology letter.

“It’s really important to us,” McCreary said, “to provide this model in the way that it’s been studied and proven to work.”

Foster children are at risk of developing inappropriate sexual behaviors due to their living conditions and their exposure to trauma and abuse, said Heidi Olson, a pediatric sexual assault nurse at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City.

Olson told lawmakers that almost half of the sexual assaults treated at Children’s Mercy in the past several years were committed by minors, with 11- to 15-year-old boys being the most likely to do so.

“Those kids aren’t even old enough to drive, and yet they are acting out with this sexually harmful behavior,” Olson said in an interview. “The way to approach this is to get kids into therapy and treatment that really works and addressing those behaviors, versus them being adjudicated and going to jail.”

It’s essential for treatment to be administered at a young age so a child can heal and learn about boundaries, she said.

For adults, “the recidivism rate is much higher,” Olson said, “so I think this is really significant.”

Nomin Ujiyediin is a reporter for the Kansas News Service.  You can reach her on Twitter @NominUJ.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly has signed a bill that requires election officials to notify voters before their mail-in ballots are thrown out because of signature problems.

An Associated Press analysis of rejected ballots in the 2018 primary in the state’s most populous county found that 153 mail-in ballots were not counted because of signatures that didn’t match county voting records.

Then-Secretary of State Kris Kobach defeated then-Gov. Jeff Colyer for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in that race by only 343 votes. The close Republican primaryhighlighted differences in how Kansas counties handled mail-in ballots.

The legislationKelly signed Monday gives voters an additional week or longer to provide a signature.

JASPER COUNTY — One person died in an accident just after 3a.m. Tuesday in Jasper County.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2001 Kawasaki Ninja driven by Adam D. Brinegar, 31, Carl Junction, was northbound on Interstate 49 one mile south of Carthage.

The motorcycle left the road, struck an embankment and rolled. Brinegar was pronounced dead at the scene and released the Jasper County Coroner. He was wearing a helmet, according to the MSHP.

GASCONADE COUNTY—Law enforcement authorities are investigating after human remains were  found inside a plastic barrel floating in a river in central Missouri, according to the Gasconade County Sheriff’s Office

Members of the Highway Patrol and the Sheriff’s Office removed the plastic barrel that was lodged on the side of the boat ramp at the Gasconade River access in Gasconade.

Investigators determined the barrel and its contents to be suspicious and was subsequently taken to the Boone County Medical Examiner’s Office in Columbia.. On Monday, human remains were discovered inside the barrel. An investigation into the identity and cause of death remains ongoing.

Authorities have released no additional details.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri Senate has passed a proposal to pay for bridge repairs across the state.

Lawmakers voted 26-7 for the resolution Monday.

The plan calls for the state to pay $50 million upfront to fix 35 bridges. If the state gets a federal matching grant, that would pave the way for Missouri to borrow $250 million to fix another 215 bridges.

The aim is to get a large enough matching grant to help replace the Interstate 70 bridge in the mid-Missouri city of Rocheport.

Missouri lawmakers have been divided on the best way to pay to fix state roads and bridges.

The Senate compromise includes less bonding and higher debt payments than Gov. Mike Parson originally proposed. The deal is aimed at addressing concerns about taking on debt and interest.

By JOHN HANNA 

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Lawyers for Kansas told the state Supreme Court on Monday that it should sign off on a new law boosting spending on public schools and end a protracted education funding lawsuit partly because the law has broad, bipartisan support.

Attorney General Derek Schmidt, a Republican, filed written legal arguments defending the new law. It contains Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s proposal for an education funding increase of roughly $90 million a year and is aimed at satisfying a state Supreme Court ruling last year that education funding remained inadequate.

Four school districts sued the state in 2010, and their attorneys have said that the new law does not provide enough additional funding after the 2019-20 school year. Schmidt said the districts are seeking a “heckler’s veto” after Kelly, many Republican lawmakers and the GOP-led State Board of Education agreed that the increase she sought would satisfy the court.

“This court should give great weight to the considered decisions of both the education officials and the people’s representatives,” Schmidt’s written argument said. “That is particularly true here given the widespread, bipartisan consensus.”

Attorneys for the four school districts asked in their own filing for the Supreme Court to order higher spending after the 2019-20 school year, give legislators another year to comply and keep the case open so that the state’s actions can be monitored.

“The state cannot demonstrate it has met its burden,” they wrote.

The Supreme Court plans to hear oral arguments from both sides’ attorneys May 9 and has promised to rule on whether the new law is sufficient by June 30. The justices have ruled repeatedly that the state constitution requires lawmakers to fund a suitable education for every child.

The high court has issued six rulings directing lawmakers to increase education funding in a little more than five years, so that it now tops $4 billion a year. The court declared last year that a 2018 law promising funding increases into the future wasn’t sufficient because it hadn’t accounted for inflation.

The four school districts argued that accounting for inflation is a straightforward math problem that requires increasingly larger amounts of money each year through the 2022-23 school year. Under their calculations, the increase for that year would be $363 million instead of the roughly $90 million under the new law.

“While the state has increased funding to account for some inflation, it has not completed the plan,” the school districts’ attorneys wrote.

Schmidt’s filing argues that given that the new law represents the consensus of “just about every other stakeholder” in the education funding debate, the court should not declare the law insufficient simply because some districts “will always want more money.” The four districts are part of a coalition that initially endorsed Kelly’s plan , then withdrew its backing.

“They should not be allowed to single-handedly override the governor’s and Legislature’s reasonable and considered funding determinations,” Schmidt wrote, adding that the law was passed “in light of the many competing demands on limited state funds.”

Kelly’s chief counsel also filed a request Monday with the Supreme Court, asking for permission to file “friend of the court” arguments by April 26. Her attorney argued that as a former state senator “intimately familiar” with school funding issues, she has a “unique” perspective on the law now that she is governor.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Missouri House has passed legislation to give taxpayers a break if they can’t pay on time this year.

House lawmakers voted 144-1 in favor of the bill on Monday, which is tax day.

The legislation would waive fees through the end of the year for individual taxpayers who file on time and go on a payment plan. It also would delay interest until May 15.

Department of Revenue officials have said they currently can waive penalties on an individual basis.

House Democratic Minority Leader Crystal Quade has said the measure comes too late. The bill still needs Senate approval.

If the bill is enacted but taxpayers have already been charged interest or penalties, they’ll get a refund.