TOPEKA — The same kids who end up in trouble with the law often come from families in disarray.

Those families, in turn, regularly turn to the state for food assistance, foster care or mental health care.

So last week, Democratic Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly announced plans to merge many of the state’s social service offices — effectively reversing a breakup of the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services that came in 2012 when Republican Sam Brownback was governor.

Kelly wants to combine the two state agencies handling social welfare with the office that handles juvenile justice services. The new agency would be called the Department of Human Services.

Human Services, under the Kelly plan, would knit together these operations:

The Department for Children and Families, which oversees foster care, adoption, family preservation services, food stamps and other welfare programs;

The Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, which oversees mental health and programs for the elderly and disabled;

And juvenile justice services for children who are charged with crimes, run by the Kansas Department of Corrections.

In a news conference, Kelly and Laura Howard, her secretary of KDADS and DCF, said the new agency would streamline services for families and children, especially “crossover youth” — children who are involved in both the foster care and criminal justice systems.

Many details of the merger remain unsettled. They’ll be unveiled when the governor releases her executive reorganization order in a few weeks.

Nomin Ujiyediin reports on criminal justice and social welfare for KCUR and the Kansas News Service. For more information, go to ksnewsservice.org .