December 18, 2006

Dear Kansas State Legislator:

I hope you find the 2007 edition of Fingertip Facts helpful. This bi-annual booklet
provides information about the services SRS provides, and many of the community
partners with whom SRS works. Fingertip Facts is also available on the Department’s
web site at www.srskansas.org, as are the following resources:

• SRS data for each county in your district;
• the 2007- 2008 SRS Business Plan; and
• recent press releases and legislative testimony

Allow me to provide you with some background on our agency. The Department of
Social and Rehabilitation Services (SRS) has a long history of supporting the most needy
and vulnerable Kansans. The department has evolved from a county operated public
welfare system to a vast array of public private partnerships that affect the life of one in
every ten Kansans. Today an array of prevention and transitional supports are offered to
individuals and families that are designed to promote people living safe, healthy and
successful lives in their homes and communities. All staff recognize our mission to
protect children and promote adult self-sufficiency. Meeting the human service needs of
Kansans cannot be done by one government agency, but requires the collaborative efforts
of a variety of partners. The commitment to collaborate is evident in SRS’ vision
statement of partnering to connect Kansans with supports and services to improve lives.

As the state’s human service agency, SRS strives to be a good steward of taxpayer dollars
by promoting “best practices” in social policy while maintaining fiscal efficiencies during
good and bad economic times. Recent organizational reforms have built upon mental
health and developmental disability reform, privatization of child welfare, integration and
reorganization of regional service centers, the development of the Kansas Health Policy
Authority, and compliance with increasingly restrictive federal rules.

During the past three years SRS has successfully renewed five federal home and
community based services waivers ensuring individuals with disabilities will continue to
have service options in their homes and communities. Four of these waivers are now
being amended to include routine and preventative dental care for adults, a service not
funded for the broader Medicaid population.

More recently, consumer access to social services has increased by the creation of an
online application, toll-free telephone access, and the creation of more than 900 access
points across the state. Creation of integrated service teams has led to more
comprehensive assessment and delivery of supports to vulnerable Kansans. Our
partnership with the Kansas Health Policy Authority has eased the Medicaid application
process for potential beneficiaries. Customer satisfaction has remained high, even during
times of organizational change and business re-engineering.

We have continued to introduce changes in the privatization of child welfare, being the
first state to negotiate performance-based contracts. These contracts are designed to
preserve families, support reintegration, provide for shorter lengths of stay, provide a
more seamless transition from foster care to adoption, and to maintain children in their
local communities. Another measure of increased accountability has been deliberate
focus on Food Stamp payment accuracy, leading to receipt of federal incentive bonuses
totaling $2.5 million for federal fiscal years 2004 and 2005.

In the last year, we have made additional organizational changes to increase the
prevention emphasis within SRS. The Prevention and Employee Supports Division was
established to increase the infusion and coordination of prevention as a primary focus of
the agency, and to provide SRS employees with the supports needed (human resources,
organizational development, and diversity and performance management) to fulfill the
agency’s mission, vision and outcomes. Also, over the last year, the 55-member SRS
prevention team began nine months of learning and assessment of prevention,
culminating in recommendations in July, 2006. These recommendations involve changes
in strategic, systemic processes in order to more effectively accomplish the infusion of
prevention into SRS policy, planning, program and practices. The team’s
recommendations recognize that prevention cannot just be an add-on program, but must
be at the core of all that SRS does, from every policy to every individual customer
encounter. This will remain a key agency focus in this upcoming year.

Organizational reforms only tell part of the story for SRS. The personal stories of the
individuals and families served by the agency tell the story best. The outcomes achieved
by our consumers led to their living safer, healthier, more successful, self-determined
lives in their homes and communities. This resulted in stronger communities, and a more
robust state. Some of the outcomes include:

• 10,000 TANF adults get jobs yearly, earning $70 million and contributing $2.1
million in taxes.
• 1,900 disabled adults receiving rehabilitation services get jobs annually, earning
$22.5 million yearly.
• 9,000 adults keep jobs with aid of child care subsidy assistance, earning $93
million yearly.
• $185 million in federal food benefits generate approximately $350 million in
economic activity yearly.
• More than 80 percent of all retail outlets comply with the prohibition of selling
tobacco products to minors.
• Over 17,000 persons with addictions received treatment funded by SRS; 1,434 of
these persons received treatment funded by Medicaid.
• Over 100,000 adults and children receive supports from the community mental
health system. 18,900 of these persons were on Medicaid.

• 83 percent of children with Serious Emotional Disturbance (SED) remain at home
with family and 7 of 9 are able to attend regular public school.
• 3,892 persons with severe mental illness were treated and discharged from three
state mental health hospitals
• 19,600 children participate in early learning activities through child care subsidy
program.
• 825 at-risk kids get a jump start on early learning with comprehensive early head
start services.
• 13,082 adults with disabilities are provided the supports needed to live
successfully in their home community.
• 3,727 families are provided in home services which enable them to support their
child with a disability at home.
• 2,835 families receive preservation services yearly, avoiding $20 million in foster
care.
• 1,500 children in foster care are safely reunified with their biological families
each year.
• 500 SRS children are adopted to permanent loving homes annually, cost avoiding
$15 million in foster care services.
• $128 million child support benefits reach Kansas families each year through Child
Support Enforcement (CSE) efforts.
• 3,600 families leave TANF yearly due to new child support, avoiding $12 million
TANF.
• 1,200 relocated individuals were served by SRS in the aftermath of the 2005 Gulf
Coast hurricanes

Organizational reforms will undoubtedly continue as we prepare for the future and
respond to changes in the federal climate. All of our consumers receive their medical
benefits through a medical card and cash benefits for general and food assistance through
an electronic benefit card. In 2005, Kansas became the first state to deliver child care
assistance through an electronic benefit card. The future may bring a kiosk or an ATM
machine to local community access sites where consumers could apply for and receive
benefits through an electronic benefit card. Streamlining the benefit process will allow
staff to focus on prevention and community capacity building, two key areas of emphasis
in this last year.

I hope the background information I provided was helpful and trust you will find the
2007 Fingertip Facts helpful as well. Please feel free to contact me or my staff with any
additional questions you may have about SRS at (785) 296-3271 or you can share our
Agency’s toll free phone number (1-888-369-4777) for those seeking first time
assistance.
Sincerely,

Don Jordan,
Secretary