Sarah Coats, Auburn social worker and DCF critic, seeks Kansas House seat

Sarah Coats, an Auburn social worker and foster care advocate, announced Tuesday she will run for the Kansas House.

The Democrat will run for House District 54, which represents parts of Shawnee, Douglas and Osage counties. Republican Ken Corbet currently holds the seat.

“I have been in social services for almost ten years,” Coats said. “In that time, I’ve seen how our policies have changed and the affects that has every time there’s a change. I think we can look at the data like the numbers, but we also need to think about how it affects people in our day to day life and it affects all of us.”

Coats has been critical of the state Department for Children and Families and the growing foster care system.

In December Coats provided The Topeka Capital-Journal with emails that confirmed a growing backlog in abuse and neglect reporting. The agency struggled to keep up with the volume of calls to an abuse reporting hotline because of “severe staffing shortages,” according to the emails.

At the time, Coats said KVC, a DCF contractor, fired her following attempts to unionize workers at the nonprofit.

“Organizing a union was needed to decrease case loads, provide incentives for good workers, and to care for those who already worked tirelessly for children and families,” Coats said in a statement.

After leaving KVC, Coats advocated for victims of human trafficking and worked with the foster care system’s legislative oversight committees. Attending the legislative meetings prompted her run for office.

“I began going to the legislative meetings every Tuesday and Thursday,” Coats said. “I became really interested and involved in the policy process and through attending those meetings, I could see the changes that could be made so that the practice was better.”

Coats said she believes the recently approved foster care task force will bring positive change including increased transparency of DCF. As an elected official, Coats said improving the agency would be a top priority.

Other changes she favors include working to prevent children from entering the foster care system, limiting case loads so that social workers can make monthly visits to foster homes and assessing how placement decisions are made.

Coats said she supports several moves made by the House in the last legislative session including Medicaid expansion and rolling back Gov. Sam Brownback’s 2012 tax cuts.

The House approved Medicaid expansion in February, but failed to override Brownback’s veto. Last month, the Legislature overrode Brownback’s veto of a tax bill that eliminates a tax loophole for 330,000 businesses and returns the state to a three-tier personal tax income model.

“I think we have to have a budget that is sustainable and realistic without cutting resources, especially without cutting education because that just costs us in the long run. Children are an investment,” Coats said.

She holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in social work from Washburn University.

Corbet, who has held the seat for five years, said Tuesday morning he planned to run again in 2018. He said he was unfamiliar with Coats.

Coats said she’s looked at Corbet’s bill sponsorship record.

“Most of what I have seen are bills to sponsor commemorating others. I haven’t seen much actual policy change,” Coats said.

Corbet said he’s attempted to get several bills out of committee, but some didn’t gain the necessary traction. He also said he has a 100 percent voting record.

The Republican said it appears the two candidates have different views and that as a representative, he’s focused on small businesses and the state’s economic growth.

“I think I’m doing a good job for the district,” Corbet said.

Primaries will be held on August 7, 2018, and the general election will be held on November 6, 2018.