Don Jordan
WHO: Don Jordan, secretary of the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services
BIO: Jordan was born Nov. 11, 1952. He grew up in Wichita, graduating from Wichita Heights High School in 1970 and then Wichita State University where he earned an undergraduate degree in U.S. history and a master’s in political science.
He began his career at SRS in 1976 in the Wichita area office. He worked five years as an income maintenance worker before becoming an income maintenance supervisor. He did that six years. He was personnel director for one year before becoming administrative services chief, a post he held four years.
He came to the SRS central office in Topeka in 1992.
There he was director of management operations for mental health and developmental disabilities for seven years and director of operations for children and family services three years. In 2002, he became superintendent at Osawatomie State Hospital, a job he held three years.
In 2005, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius named him commissioner of the Juvenile Justice Authority. In 2006, he became secretary of SRS, succeeding Gary Daniels. He is married and has two grown children, eight grandchildren.
“I want people to have good, easy access to appropriate services,” Jordon said. “I want us to pay a lot of attention to making sure people have a choice, particularly the choice of living in the community if they’d rather not be in an institution.”
RESPONSIBILITIES: Jordan oversees more than 5,500 employees and a $1.5 billion annual budget. SRS provides or purchases services for the poor, mentally ill, blind and disabled. The department runs three state hospitals for the mentally ill; two for the developmentally disabled. It oversees the state’s foster care, family preservation and adoption contracts. Its workers investigate reports of child abuse and neglect.
Other responsibilities include: Substance abuse treatment and recovery, child support enforcement, food stamps, weatherization, utility-bill assistance, refugee aid. Until last year, SRS administered the state’s Medicaid programs. Most of these responsibilities now lie with the Kansas Health Policy Authority. Jordan is a non-voting member of the health policy authority board.
These aren’t the best of times for SRS:
• The agency is short-staffed — only about 5,500 of its 6,100 positions are filled.
• A series of ongoing federal audits are expected to trigger major changes in the state’s mental health, child welfare, and health care systems.
• The number of children living in poverty is increasing. Recent data show that 15.6 percent of the state’s children were poor in 2004; 17.8 percent in 2005. As the number of children in poverty increases, social workers’ workloads also increase.
• More than 1,300 people with developmental disabilities are on waiting lists for services.
• The state’s mental health advocates have warned that without more in-patient beds, the community mental health system will unravel.
“He’s in a difficult position in a difficult time,” said Robert Harder, a former SRS secretary. “He’s going to have to promote programs that are not concrete. By that I mean: We know how to measure things like building a car, but we don’t know how to measure things like the well-being of a child in foster care or a single mom who has access to day care and a job. It won’t be easy.”
INTERCONNECTS: SRS deals closely with various other state and federal agencies including:
• Federal — U.S. Department on Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Administration on Children and Families, and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
• State — Kansas Health Policy Authority, Department of Corrections, Department of Health and Environment, Juvenile Justice Authority.
The agency’s major contractors are
• Kansas Payment Center, processing child support checks;
• Community mental health centers
• Community developmental disability organizations
• Foster care and adoption contractors: KVC Behavioral Healthcare, The Farm Inc. United Methodist Youthville, and St. Francis Academy.
CONTACT: Telephone: 785-296-3271
Email: hope@srs.ks.gov
Address: 915 SW Harrison, 6th floor, 66612-1354
Sources: Don Jordan, SRS