(March 4, 2026) – Today, the House Child Welfare and Foster Care Committee held an informational hearing on House Bill 2742. The legislation enacts the Family Rights in Medical Investigations Act to provide requirements for the reporting of suspicions of abuse or neglect of a child for medical professionals, requires a medical professional to provide notice to a parent of a CARE exam and allows parents to request a second medical opinion.

Conferees from the public suggested medical referrals are leading to child investigations and separations.

Sara Goble: Shared her story about her son, who was seen at one hospital and then went to another hospital, where she suggested that their family was in the hospital one week unnecessarily. The courts took her children temporarily, and she highlighted that medical records could have explained her child's injuries more than medical recommendations for investigations. Goble suggested that other medical causes need to be considered, rather than jumping to conclusions about abuse. She also emphasized the need for parents to have access to their child's medical records and for independent second opinions before reports can be made. Statistics that the conferee shared with the committee indicated that one in three cases of suspected child abuse in a medical setting are later determined to be unfounded. Goble highlighted the intent of the bill is to provide due process. Upon questioning from committee members, the conferee shared her children were separated from the family for six months and said the hospital misdiagnosed her son with 12 fractures. She indicated that the Kansas Department for Children and Families broke protocols by not providing a safety plan for the parent and by discharging the parent medically after 72 hours.

Deputy Secretary Tanya Keys of the Kansas Department for Children and Family Services appeared before the committee to explain the process. She explained they were working under a pilot project at the time. She highlighted the responsibilities of DCF in the CARE Referral Process: Step 1: The Kansas Protection Report Center reviews the reports and assigns them to a child protection specialist. Step 2: CPS refers the report for children under six years of age, alleged to be a victim of physical neglect or abuse to a Medical Resource Center. Step 3: The MRC reviews the referred reports and provides a recommendation to the CPS regarding medical treatment. Step 4: The CPS talks with families about recommendations. If the MRC recommends medical treatment, CPS helps connect children and families to a CARE provider. Step 5: CARE providers are located across Kansas to help provide exams and treatment to children. Keys said 75 percent of referrals sent from DCF suggest no CARE exam is needed. She shared statistics of referrals and recommendations. She identified how quickly DCF must respond to law enforcement (within 24 hours) versus other medical agencies (three days).

Next, the committee heard from Sara Hortenstine of the Child Death Review Board. Hortenstine gave testimony of how medical referrals have been overlooked by DCF and ended in child deaths. She said the statewide care network is very important to prevent child deaths.

The committee then heard from Child Abuse Pediatricians Dr. Kerri Weeks and Dr. Emily Killough. They covered what a child abuse pediatrician does to evaluate injuries and treatment, the review of medical history to find anything that could explain the injuries outside of abuse, try to match injuries with medical records and match community partners to the address. She highlighted mandatory reporting and CARE program differences. She said many times, a child doesn't need a CARE exam only when injuries are pretty extensive, then they initiate the CARE program level exam, emphasizing that many times the CARE exams prove there is not abuse. She also shared with the committee there are no financial incentives to diagnose any abuse and shared a story of the program's success.