Kansas Department for Children and Families
The Kansas Department for Children and Families (formerly the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services) is a state agency in Kansas, responsible for the delivery of social services to those in need of them. The agency was founded in 1973, and it is currently headed by Laura Howard. History. Pre-establishment. The 1859 Wyandotte Constitution mandated that the state create and support institutions for “the benefit of the insane, blind, deaf and dumb, and such other benevolent institutions as the public good may require.” As a result, the Kansas Insane Asylum was established  in 1866 in Osawatomie. Due to overcrowding, an additional asylum was approved; the Topeka State Hospital opened in 1879. Establishment. The agency was first established in 1973 from then-Governor Docking's Executive Reorganization Order No. 1, which created the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services. Governor Docking then appointed Dr. Robert Harder as the first secretary of the agency. In that same year, legislation was passed to transfer all social welfare programs from the various counties to the new agency. The time it took to transfer the programs to the new umbrella agency was about nine months. Kansas