A story in last Thusday's Kansas City Star reports that the Kansas legislature is considering reforms in wake of the Kaufman group home sex scandal.

"The attorney general's office and the Disability Rights Center of Kansas are seeking legislation to create a special unit in the attorney general's office to investigate potential abuse, neglect and financial exploitation," reported the paper. "They also want to prevent financial exploitation of the disabled and mentally ill by court-appointed guardians."

The Disability Rights Center Rocky Nichols told reporters that "state oversight of group homes and treatment centers focuses on licensing and requiring written plans of action when violations are found, not making life better for the residents."

"You lock a person in seclusion for three weeks, which clearly violates their human, civil, legal rights," he said, "and the bureaucratic, licensure response is, 'Oh, you better not do that again. We're going to cite you ...'"

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