TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Lawmakers are expressing outrage after learning more than 70 foster children are missing in Kansas, a number that officials say is in line with the national average.

Foster care contractors provided the information during a meeting of an oversight panel Tuesday at the Statehouse in response to questions about the disappearance of three sisters from a northeast Kansas foster home, The Kansas City Star reports. Police believe the missing girls — ages 15, 14 and 12 — ran away in August.

Sen. Laura Kelly, a Topeka Democrat, told a child welfare task force meeting that when she...