Clayton to announce creation of legislative group focused on Millennial issues. Overland Park Rep. Stephanie Clayton, a Republican, and Wichita Rep. Brandon Whipple, a Democrat, today will announce the formation of a new group of legislators that will focus on issues affecting Kansans under the age of 45. At a media event this morning, Clayton and Whipple will appear with Steven Olikara, Founder and President of the Millennial Action Project, to kick off the Kansas Future Caucus. Kansas will be the 21st state to have legislators form a bi-partisan caucus focused on the issues affecting Millennials under the national Millennial Action Project.
Johnson County Mental Health Center offers presentation in Prairie Village on mental wellness. Johnson County Mental Health Center Director Tim DeWeese will give a presentation at Nall Avenue Church of the Nazarene, 6301 Nall Avenue, Prairie Village, tonight on the services the center offers to the community, including crisis counseling, recovery and mental wellness services. The event is free and open to the public. It begins at 7 p.m.
Bollier frustrated by lack of explanation for inconsistency in mental health service for foster care kids. Sen. Barbara Bollier expressed frustration last week with the inconsistency with which kids in the state’s foster care system receive mental health treatment. Among the three private companies that provide services through KanCare, Kansas’s Medicaid program, there’s a gap of more than 40 days in length of stays at residential psychiatric treatment programs. Kids whose care was managed by the company Sunflower stayed in residential programs just 60.9 days on average. Kids with care managed by Amerigroup had an average stay of 103.1 days. Bollier said during a meeting of the Child Welfare System Task Force on Friday that state administrators should have flagged the disparity much earlier after the launch of KanCare in 2013. “I don’t understand why it’s six years in and you’re caught like a deer in the headlights,” Bollier said. [Psych Bed Shortage Could Be Driving Kansas Foster Care Problems — Kansas News Service]
