Month: December 2015

DCF foster care official retiring after year on the job

No connection between Myers’ departure and reports of discrimination against gay couples in adoption system, spokesperson says

by Jim McLean, KHI News Service

The man who oversees the state’s foster care program is retiring, a spokesperson for the Kansas Department for Children and Families confirmed Friday.

Michael Myers, a former Topeka construction executive who has worked in several positions in the child welfare agency under Gov. Sam Brownback, will retire at the end of December.

DCF Secretary Phyllis Gilmore named Myers director of prevention and protection services in December 2014. He replaced Brian Dempsey, who abruptly left the agency along with Kathe Decker, former deputy director for family services.

Myers is not a high-profile official, but some critics of the agency say he is among those responsible for what they believe has been a concerted effort to prevent same-sex couples in Kansas from adopting children.

Various DCF officials have denied the agency is working to discourage adoptions by gay couples. But several same-sex couples, some state legislators and a district court judge in Johnson County have said they believe there is a pattern of discrimination. The judge, Kathleen Sloan, removed a 2-year-old boy from state custody in 2012 after finding that DCF had “worked hard” to build a case against the lesbian woman who was attempting to adopt him.

As the director of DCF’s Kansas City regional office, Myers was involved in the Johnson County case and among those singled out in Sloan’s decision.

“The court cannot reach any other conclusion other than KVC and DCF went out of their way to find any reason to remove (redacted name of the child) from the only home that he had ever known because they did not want this child to be adopted by the only parent he had ever known — a person who also happens to be gay,” Sloan wrote.

Theresa Freed, a spokesperson for DCF, said there is no connection between Myers’ retirement and the emerging controversy about the agency’s adoption policies.

“Before all these stories started coming out, he had made that decision,” Freed said.

In the fall of 2013, Myers was named interim director of DCF’s Wichita regional office after Diane Bidwell resigned. The state was looking into charges that Bidwell was steering children at risk of entering the foster care system toward FaithBuilders, a faith-based group that some parents said was undercutting their efforts to be reunited with their children.

Myers announced his retirement Thursday in an internal email.

“It is with Joy and a little sadness that I am announcing my retirement from DCF at the end of the month,” Myers wrote. “After over four years of working at DCF I feel it is time for a new challenge.”

No one has yet been named to replace Myers, Freed said.

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KCKCC softball team helps make Thanksgiving extra special

Kansas City Kansas Community College softball coach Kacy Tillery, center,prepared mashed potatoes as she and 27 members of her Blue Devil softball team helped serve Thanksgiving dinner to more than 100 residents and guests of Planters II, an assisted living apartment complex in Leavenworth. (KCKCC photo)
Kansas City Kansas Community College softball coach Kacy Tillery, center,prepared mashed potatoes as she and 27 members of her Blue Devil softball team helped serve Thanksgiving dinner to more than 100 residents and guests of Planters II, an assisted living apartment complex in Leavenworth. (KCKCC photo)

by Alan Hoskins

Thanksgiving was extra special for 27 members of the Kansas City Kansas Community College softball team and not because the Lady Blue Devils got to enjoy a rare home-cooked dinner.

Led by coach Kacy Tillery, the Blue Devil team helped served a traditional Thanksgiving dinner to more than 100 residents and guests at Planters II, an assisted living apartment complex in Leavenworth. It was the fifth straight year the KCKCC softball team has assisted in the project.

Amy Carpenter, the public housing manager of Planters II, spearheaded the effort with a huge effort from her mother, Janice Carpenter.

“The dinner would not be possible without the help of my family and especially my mom, who prepared all the turkeys and made all of the dressing,” Amy Carpenter said.

The menu consisted of five turkeys, four hams, 80 pounds of mashed potatoes, 80 pounds of sweet potatoes, 10 pans of dressing, 10 No. 10 cans of green beans, gravy, rolls, cranberry sauce and countless pies.

“Every year this is something our softball team looks forward to doing as a team,” Tillery said. “It’s a great way to help the community. In some cases, the dinner is the only Thanksgiving dinner many of the tenants will enjoy. If it wasn’t for Amy, her mother and her family, many would not have any Thanksgiving at all.”

Tillery said the project extends beyond helping prepare and served the food. “We love helping and talking with the tenants,” Tillery said. “Several of them follow our team and keep up with what we have been doing. They ask about former players and also keep track of our players who have moved on.”

In addition to the 27 Blue Devil players, former assistant coach Taci Beatty and former players Lacey Santiago and Laura Vanderheiden returned to help in the project.

“Having former assistants and players come back to help us is really special,” Tillery said. “The players do join in the meal and there’s usually lots of leftovers for the residents to take back to their rooms for later.”

Appeals court sends back Wyandotte County case; defendant wants to plead guilty to another charge

The Kansas Court of Appeals today vacated a Wyandotte County District Court decision in a meth case and sent it back for further consideration.

Coshawn D. Hamilton appealed his 2014 sentence for meth possession, arguing the district court erred by denying his motion to withdraw his plea prior to sentencing.

Hamilton was charged with possession of meth and possession of a controlled substance without a tax stamp, and eventually pleaded guilty to possession of meth in a plea agreement in which the state agreed to dismiss the second charge, according to court documents.

As part of his plea agreement, Hamilton agreed not to seek a downward departure on the sentence. The maximum penalty for his offense was 42 months imprisonment and a fine of $100,000.

The appeals court stated that Hamilton apparently wants to withdraw his plea to one charge so he can plead guilty to both counts, because he wanted to file an appeal for a downward departure. The court documents stated his criminal history is higher than he anticipated when he entered his plea. Apparently his lawyer at the time of trial was not aware of his juvenile history.

While the appeals court did not take a position on the merits of his motion to withdraw, the court decided to remand the cause because it could not find any mention of a “good cause” analysis in the record, according to court documents. It also did not find mention of any discussion of Edgar factors.

The appeals court stated it reversed and remanded the case so that the district court could consider whether Hamilton established good cause, and because of that, it did not need to address Hamilton’s Apprendi challenge.

Hamilton was represented by Corrine E. Gunning of the Kansas appellate defender office in this case.