WICHITA, Kansas, September 5, 2008 – State officials are at odds over whether to investigate how Sedgwick County prosecutors treat case workers in child custody cases. The attorney general says ‘no,’ but a state senator says ‘yes,’ saying she’s received many complaints.

A former caseworker we’ll call “Susan” says she also received complaints. She was fired from her job.

"They would ask you to kinda stretch the truth a little bit,” Susan said. “Not necessarily outright tell a lie, but stretch the truth a little bit."

For almost three years, Susan worked in the trenches of Kansas’ child welfare system. A caseworker in Sedgwick County, she was among those who contributed to court documents a judge uses to decide if children should be returned to their parents.

“It was very difficult to sleep at night knowing that not always was it, um, the entire truth that had to be put into the court reports,” she said.

She’s talking now to back up comments made by SRS Chief Don Jordan, secretly taped during a March meeting and broadcast on KSN back in June.

"In Sedgwick County often times we end up writing things because it's what our social workers get bullied by the district attorney's office into writing,” Jordan had said. “They really have no belief in what it says."

Jordan has since retracted those comments, but Kansas Senator Jean Schodorf says she’s heard from case workers who claim Jordan was right the first time.

"At least six months of complaints about the way cases were handed, not only in the DA's office, case workers, numerous things,” Senator Schodorf said.

Schodorf contacted Attorney General Steven Six and asked for an investigation, but recently received a letter back from him stating, “That it is my understanding that the secretary has since issued a retraction and without further evidence I do not believe an investigation by my office is warranted at this time.”

Still, a number of case workers, including Susan, contacted KSN.

"My concern is that too many of the children are staying in custody that don't need to be in custody for any length of time,” Susan said.

The other workers weren’t willing to go on camera, but all claimed that information was sometimes adjusted at the demands of a prosecutor from the Sedgwick County DA’s office.

Susan estimates information would be adjusted in about 20 to 30 percent of the cases and that someone would bully her into saying something she didn’t want to say.

The attorney general refused KSN’s request for an interview on the matter. His spokesperson says if further evidence were presented to his office he would consider investigating, but “until then, no further discussion is necessary.”

"I was disappointed,” Senator Schodorf said. “Just the fact that he said he didn't think one was needed, negating all of the complaints over the past six months.”

"You know that's our main goal in life is to aggressively protect children,” said Deputy District Attorney Kim Parker.

Yet, Parker says the public has to trust the system and welcomes an investigation if necessary to make that happen.

"I think that if an investigation is necessary to clear the air and make sure that people understand what really happens than that's an okay thing,” Parker said.

District Attorney Nola Foulston has already denied wrongdoing and Parker says what’s being overlooked is that everyone is working for the same goal.

"Claims about bullying, I guess what exactly does that mean, if it means making sure that you have all the relevant information for a judge to review, that's what we do,” Parker said.

But Susan says it went beyond that.

"If I didn't do what I was told, or asked to do by the DA, I wasn't gonna have a job,” she said.

A spokesperson from the AG’s office says she checked with their abuse, neglect and exploitation unit and there have been no complaints or reports.

Many of the caseworkers who have made complaints say they haven’t gone to the attorney general because they still work in the field in some capacity and they’re concerned for their jobs.
 But until someone comes forward, there may be no investigation.

Schodorf says she’ll ask for a legislative audit. She’s not making any allegations, but she does want to figure out what’s really going on.