Records of the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services

Abstract: The records from the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services (SRS)available at the State Archives concern most if not all of the functions the SRS has held over the decades, including helping individuals with addictions, child and family abuse, mental health and the facilities for it in Kansas, and delinquent or problem youths. A significant portion of these records involve grants, either to SRS or from SRS to local agencies, in order to support the programs and services offered by these institutions. Other extensive series concern budgets, both the preparation of and requests for annual financial appropriations from the state. The records from the state hospitals and tuberculosis sanatoriums include a great deal of (often restricted) information about the patients and individuals who spent time at these institutions; other records, such as those related to youths and children, can also fall under restrictions under Kansas statutes, so not all records will be available for research.

Functions and programs under SRS have often been closely affiliated with functions and programs that also fall under other state agencies in Kansas. SRS for example has often received grant monies from the Department of Education or from the Department of Commerce and its predecessor and successor agencies. Related records might therefore be housed under these state agencies rather than with SRS.

The functions of SRS have been held by a variety of previous agencies, as indicated by the administrative history. The various divisions and departments within SRS, as well as the individual institutions falling under SRS’ jurisdiction, have also changed names numerous times over the decades; the staff at the State Archives have therefore not always elected closely to follow these name changes. In order to find all materials related to a particular topic, broader searches might therefore need to be conducted under multiple agency (and sub-agency) names.

Administrative History: The Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services had its start in the Board of Charitable Institutions, created in 1876 in order to oversee state-run charitable institutions in Kansas. These included the Soldiers' Orphans Home (for the children of deceased soldiers; eventually this became a home for all orphaned children in the state); Asylums for the Blind, the Deaf and Dumb, and the Insane; and the Norton Tuberculosis Sanitarium. In 1901 this Board also took on correctional institutions.

In 1913 the State Board of Administration (Charitable Institutions) took charge of those institutions, splitting them off from correctional institutions, and the Board of Charitable and Correctional Institutions was abolished. After another organizational restructuring in 1917, the Board of Administration retained control of charitable institutions until 1937.

In 1937, the State Board of Social Welfare was organized. It held duties involving developing State plans as provided for under the federal Social Security Act, made rules and regulations for carrying out those plans, and supervised all social welfare activities of county boards holding welfare responsibilities. This board included the State Appeal Committee, which heard and determined all controversies arising between the state director, or any individual, and the county boards. Both were abolished in 1939.

The State Department of Social Welfare, overseen by a reorganized State Board of Social Welfare, came into existence in 1939. They determined the general policies relating to all forms of social welfare in Kansas until 1973.

Governor Robert Docking called for a revamping of the State Department of Social Welfare into a reorganized division called the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services (SRS) in 1973. Duties for the SRS continued to include helping Kansas constituents with adoptions and foster care, addictions, child support and childcare, mental health, physical disabilities, and helping to provide other medical assistance.

On July 1, 2012 under direction from an executive order signed by Governor Sam Brownback, SRS became the Department for Children and Families (DCF). Its functions related to disability services, and its oversight of state hospitals, were transferred to the new Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services (KDADS).

[Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services. "About Us." http://www.srskansas.org/ (accessed 10 November 2008).]

[Wilder, Bessie. Governmental Agencies of the State of Kansas, 1861-1956. Lawrence: University of Kansas Publications, 1957.]

Related materials: Records of the Board of Charitable Institutions; Records of the Board of Charitable and Correctional Institutions; Records of the State Board of Administration; Records of the State Department of Social Welfare.