National Weather Service graphic
Severe storms appear to be moving south of the Wyandotte County area today, according to radar maps from the National Weather Service.
Storms currently were south of Ottawa, Kansas, and moving to the east.
Temperatures were at 74 degrees at 8 a.m., with today’s high near 81, the weather service said. These cool temperatures will stay through the weekend.
A 30 percent chance of rain is still in today’s forecast before 1 p.m., according to the weather service. There will be a north wind of 14 to 20 mph, gusting as high as 28 mph.
Tonight, it will be mostly clear, with a low of 48, according to the weather service. A north northwest wind of 9 to 14 mph will become light west northwest after midnight. Winds may gust up to 21 mph.
Saturday, it will be sunny with a high near 80, the weather service said. A light northwest wind will increase to 5 to 10 mph in the morning.
Saturday night, it will be partly cloudy with a low of 58, according to the weather service, and a west northwest wind of 3 to 6 mph.
Sunday, expect mostly sunny skies with a high near 78, and a northwest wind of 3 to 6 mph, the weather service said.
Sunday night, there is a 20 percent chance of showers with a low of 58, according to the weather service.
Monday, it will be mostly sunny with a high near 79, the weather service said.
Monday night, expect partly cloudy skies with a low of 59, according to the weather service.
Tuesday, it will be mostly sunny with a high near 82, the weather service said.
Tuesday night, there is a 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1 a.m., according to the weather service. The low will be around 66.
Editor’s note: Kansas privatized its foster care system in 1997 after a lawsuit revealed widespread problems. Twenty years later, the number of Kansas children in foster care has shot up — topping 7,100 in April — and lawmakers approved the creation of a task force to examine the system. The Kansas News Service investigated problems in the foster care system and possible solutions. This is the fifth story in a series.
The foster care system in Kansas has problems, but a national child welfare group sees one area where it could lead the way for other states.
Tracey Feild, director of the child welfare strategy group at the Annie E. Casey Foundation, said work on childhood trauma by KVC Kansas, one of the state’s two foster care contractors, could be a model for others. The Casey Foundation sponsors the annual Kids Count report and other child-focused research.
KVC partnered with Child Trends, a nonpartisan national research group, to find out if training foster parents and caseworkers about childhood trauma would result in fewer moves for foster children. Childhood trauma includes experiences such as such as being exposed to violence, experiencing economic hardship or living with parents or guardians who abuse alcohol or drugs, are mentally ill or served time in prison.
KVC and Child Trends found that if adults understood the effects of traumatic events, children were more likely to stay in one home during their time in foster care. Children working with better-trained adults also were observed to have better behavior.
It makes sense that children whose foster parents and caseworkers understand their trauma fare better in the foster care system, Feild said. If parents and caseworkers know the reasons why children are acting out, they can stay calm and work through the issue instead of labeling the child as defiant, she said.
“That’s what you always hear about disruptions: ‘The child’s defiant. He won’t listen to me,’” she said. “Everybody has their own suitcase of reactions. You have to try to keep your suitcase closed and look at what’s going on in the child’s suitcase.”
Saint Francis Community Services, the state’s other contractor, also uses trauma-informed care, spokeswoman Vickee Spicer said.
Kids who experienced multiple traumatic events often struggle to trust adults, control their emotions or even understand their feelings, said Kelly McCauley, associate director of KVC’s Institute for Health Systems Innovation. The institute studies child welfare practices and offers training and consultation.
“We are often serving children who have significant levels of trauma,” she said. “For these kids, just getting through the day can be so much more difficult.”
The conventional wisdom was that foster children would get better once they were placed in a safe environment, but more recent research suggests that’s not always the case, McCauley said. Trauma can affect brain development and leave children in a fight-or-flight mode, which can lead them to overreact in situations that aren’t a threat, she said.
“It’s not because they’re bad kids. It’s not because they’re troublemakers or being willful or defiant,” she said.
“For these kids, just getting through the day can be so much more difficult.”
KVC staff and foster parents learn how to set healthy limits and guide kids toward good behavior, McCauley said. Children with a history of trauma need clear, positive behavior expectations, stable routines and the freedom to make choices within healthy limits, she said.
“With kids who’ve experienced trauma, overly punitive discipline can be very triggering,” she said.
Kids work with therapists to learn to tell their story, including their trauma and how they intend to move beyond it, and practice techniques to relax and express emotions in healthy ways, McCauley said. Some children in the foster care system often have a dark view of their future, she said, noting that one 18-year-old she worked with didn’t believe she would live to turn 19.
“Another part of it is helping them see that they don’t have to be defined by their trauma,” she said.
Meg Wingerter is a reporter for the Kansas News Service, a collaboration of KCUR, Kansas Public Radio and KMUW covering health, education and politics. She may be reached on Twitter @MegWingerter. Kansas News Service stories and photos may be republished at no cost with proper attribution and a link back to kcur.org.
Afraid of walking alone? Never fear — a new bot has come to the rescue.
“We Walk Together,” a bot through Facebook Messenger, allows solo walkers to summon a “buddy” instantly.
“It’s ‘Uber’ for walkers,” says Rachel Fustini, of Overland Park, Kan., co-founder and advocacy director.
Her roots stretch across the metro. Her grandpa grew up in Wyandotte County in an orphanage. He had four brothers and a sister. He worked his whole life at General Motors, and he and his sister are buried in Maple Hill. He died when she was 16.
Fustini, of mixed heritage, has personal reasons to be concerned. Her father, Hispanic.
Fustini says WWT works in the metro, as well as around the world. Right now, it is in English, but they hope to add more languages soon.
“Es para los que necesitan otros,” says Fustini, translated, “It’s about anybody who needs somebody.”
“It’s about anybody who needs somebody,” says Fustini. (Photo by Rebecca Tombaugh copyright 2017)
Fustini says the idea started after the November election. She got on a group page on Facebook where everyone was talking about wanting to do something to help — anything — and positive.
“This is my anything,” says Fustini.
She and two others chatting on the group page were seeing reports of a rise in hate crimes around the country.
“People are more brazen,” she said.
Fustini pointed to the threat of danger to showing up right here in the metro area in February when an Olathe man was charged with murder after shooting two Indians and a white intervenor. One died and two were hospitalized, according to the Associated Press.
“I wish someone would have done something,” she says, “like call 9-1-1.”
Fustini spreads the word about WWT by participating in marches in the metro this year. (WWT photo copyright 2017)
She saw other people were concerned, too. Fustini felt the concern had to go beyond complaining. Yet, a big movement can be overwhelming when an individual wants to do something. The bot made sense because it gives anybody a way to be part of the community down to their own neighbors on the same block.
“We’re all in this together,” she says.
Fustini has always been involved with advocacy. She does clothing drives and fundraisers. Her undergraduate degrees are in Spanish and Intercultural Communications. Her dissertation at the University of Missouri-Kansas City was on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) students. She was a Bernie Sanders campaign volunteer. The title of her day job is “rare disease advocate.”
“I love it,” she says.
She even has a rescue dog, a mutt she named “Sabina.”
Fustini’s mom, Wendy, also helps let people know about her daughter’s venture. (WWT photo copyright 2017)
But, she says, after the election, her focus changed.
“People are being attacked now,” said Fustini, and goes on to explain.
WWT is for, say, a woman wearing a hijab. The woman may not feel safe. She can use the app to not be alone in a situation, as in there is safety in numbers.
“It stops the harassment or de-escalates it,” she says. “This is America. No woman should be afraid of walking out in her neighborhood.”
Fustini says she would like the bot to become a way for people to connect in their own communities.
“People have biases, we want people to break (away from) their biases,” says Fustini.
Fustini, herself, recalls one protest where she was faced with a man from the other side. She talked with him, and got to know him.
“We can build trust with each other,” she says.
The bot is not just for those feeling prejudices, says Fustini, but for anybody who thinks to themselves, “I want to help my neighbors.” The bot lets them see who indeed needs help, such as an older person walking to the grocery store. That older person may be four houses down, but the buddy would never have known.
“It can be just getting to know your neighbors,” she says.
Fustini demonstrated on her phone how the app works. She pulled up the Facebook page “We Walk Together.”
Then, a walker sends a chat message.
Two buttons appear:
Do you want to be a walker?
Do you want to be a buddy?
The walker clicks on which one to be, and is then prompted to send a location.
Fustini says a person could be a buddy one day, and a walker another day, saying, “Today — I need help.”
The involvement is up to the person.
Afterwards, the bot allows the buddy and walker to rate their experiences.
No training is provided. They have added disclaimers. Fustini says no data is shared.
“WWT is a private organization whose international team has poured both their time and savings into the project,” says Fustini. “We are not in the business of anything, we are in the effort to build stronger communities, and that means keeping user data private.”
Fustini says for those who may not know what to do in certain situations, the bot has a chat feature. That also allows for specific info to be communicated quickly, such as “I’m wearing a yellow shirt.”
While the bot started as a response to hate crimes, Fustini says it has already grown into a way for neighbors to connect in a neighborly way.
“I see people connecting with a generation today that they probably wouldn’t have,” she says.
Fustini also explained how the bot came to be. She happened to be in a group on Facebook talking about post-election racial problems, and just clicked with two other women. She talked to them every day.
“We just clicked,” she says. “We’ve yet to meet in person.”
Soon, they came up with the idea.
Fustini told them, “Let’s do it.”
Fustini says WWT is a bot powered through Facebook Messenger. To have developed it would have cost $70,000.
“We’re just normal people,” she says.
The other two people are Do Young Ji, and his fiancé Ava, who live in New Jersey. Ji says the Brexit election was the genesis of what he felt was a “racial backlash,” against ethnic groups, including Asians and Indians.
“That doesn’t seem right,” he said.
Ji wanted to do something.
“I’m from a close-knit family in a very small town,” says Ji. “Not being there to help your neighbors just seems unthinkable to me. I think we all want to do something, and WWT is a way to be there and help build stronger communities, wherever we are.”
Ji, a banker and self-described “geek,” said he had made bots and apps before.
“But nothing of this capacity,” he says.
So, Ji took a hiatus from his banking career and they used their own money and savings to pay for developers. That took time and researching, and after more months of testing, they rolled it out on a trial basis.
“I liked what I was seeing,” he recalls.
Ji is a citizen and has lived in America for decades. But his fiancé, who was born in Casablanca and moved from London to the United States a few years ago, wanted to return to London because she was afraid.
“Let’s see what happens, he told her, “if things get better.”
Ji took to the streets in a march in New York City this year. “I’m from a close-knit family in a very small town. Not being there to help your neighbors just seems unthinkable to me,” said Ji. (WWT Photo copyright 2017)
In March, she gave a demo at Northeast High School in Kansas City, Mo. She is looking for partnerships and colleges. Fustini is also applying for grants.
“It doesn’t matter if you voted one way or another,” she explains, “if you want to help someone in your neighborhood, in school or the subway, or your community, I’m going to give the person the way to do that — and I’m going to be proud of you for doing that.”
For more information go to:
@wwtapp
wewalktogether.org
