TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas' governor plans to merge a state agency that has been under fire in recent years over abused children's deaths with another social services department in the hopes that the state will focus more on preventing problems within potentially troubled families.

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's announcement Wednesday was short on specifics about how persistent problems would be addressed by combining the department handling the foster care system for abused and neglected children with the agency that provides services to the elderly and disabled. But Kelly and her top social s...