Supreme Court accepting comment on amended rule about child in need of care records

TOPEKA—The Kansas Supreme Court is accepting public comment on an amended rule making child in need of care cases confidential to prevent public access. 

Comment on the proposed amendment may be made by email to publiccomments@kscourts.org until 5 p.m. Thursday, September 17. The subject line must read “Rule 106.”

Proposed Amendment to Rule 106 is on the Kansas judicial branch website at www.kscourts.org under Rules Open for Public Comment. 

The amendment would make all court records in a child in need of care case confidential and not publicly available, including the events index. This will allow the child’s complete name to be used throughout the court record without disclosing it to the public.

If the proposed rule change is not adopted, the full names of minors subject to child in need of care proceedings will not be protected in the case management system if the names are used in the case caption.