Get to bottom of Jordan's claims

Get to bottom of Jordan's claims Kansas.com
If Kansas Social and Rehabilitation Services Secretary Don Jordan thinks that Sedgwick County prosecutors are bullying SRS social workers, he needs to intervene and stop it, not just complain about it. But if he doesn't really believe that, or has no evidence to back up this serious charge, he should not claim it is happening and undermine public trust of the child-welfare system.
At a March meeting with an advocacy group, Jordan said that SRS social workers "get bullied" by Sedgwick County prosecutors into including information in affidavits that the social workers "really have no belief in," and that the county's prosecutors are willing to "yell," "cuss" and "scream" at and even "threaten" his staff members. That calls into question the integrity of the social workers' affidavits, which influence judges' opinions about whether to place kids in foster care.
Jordan later told The Eagle that he regretted using the word "bullied" in the meeting and said he didn't think SRS staff members were asked to lie, though he still implied that the District Attorney's Office may be interfering with the judgments of SRS workers.
Deputy District Attorney Ron Paschal, who oversees Sedgwick County juvenile cases, said that Jordan called and apologized after being contacted by The Eagle. According to Paschal, Jordan said he was "pandering" to the advocacy group, which has criticized Sedgwick County for being too quick to remove kids from homes and put them in foster care.
Neither of the two Sedgwick County District Court judges interviewed by Eagle reporter Tim Potter has seen evidence of a systemic problem. Affidavits may contain inaccuracies sometimes, said Judge Tim Henderson, "but it doesn't mean that anybody's being bullied and anybody's being dishonest."
Child welfare is one area where erring on the side of caution is not just defensible but essential. And there's no denying that Sedgwick County has a reputation around the state and even the nation for being aggressive in protecting children at risk. But that's not the same thing as falsifying information to justify yanking kids out of safe homes.
If Jordan really believes kids in the county are being placed in state custody based on false or exaggerated information, at the urging of prosecutors and with the complicity of social workers, he should be working with all involved to fix the problem and hold people accountable -- not just complaining about it to an advocacy group. If he doesn't believe this and was just "pandering," then what in the world was he doing making this claim?
Either way, Jordan did not live up to his duty as the state's top official assigned to oversee child welfare.
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and other officials need to get involved and determine what is happening.
If Sedgwick County prosecutors are overstepping, they need to be brought in line to protect the independence of SRS social workers and the integrity of the child-welfare system.
If Jordan is making false claims and pandering, he should be replaced.
For the editorial board, Phillip Brownlee