More than 7,000 children in Kansas currently need foster care due to abuse, neglect or other family challenges. One way we can all improve the child welfare system is by working together with people like you in our community. A top goal of KVC Kansas is to make sure children are cared for in family-like settings with relatives, people they already know and trust, or caring foster families. As we often say, “Children grow best in families” — not in group homes or other residential settings — and we need your help ensuring every child in need is cared for by a loving family.

You may have seen recent headlines about youth who have sometimes waited or even slept in an office overnight while our staff works to match them with a foster family. We have worked hard to keep the community informed of the needs and our action plan through open communication such as this letter. Because of these issues, we want to work with you to improve Kansas foster care and strengthen children and families.

We’ll be having an event on December 15th (details forthcoming) to discuss the challenges that face the Kansas foster care system and how together we can make improvements. This discussion will help you understand how we can align our resources to strengthen and empower families in our communities, which will ultimately keep kids safe and allow them to thrive! We encourage anyone who has had knowledge or involvement in the child welfare system to attend.

Who should attend? Teachers, principals, superintendents or other educators; law enforcement; community mental health center representatives; government representatives; faith-based organizations; foster or adoptive parents; birth parents or others served by the child welfare system; kinship care providers; youth formerly in foster care or otherwise served by the child welfare system; donors; volunteers; employees; and engaged members of every community. In other words, everyone involved in or concerned about strengthening Kansas children and families is welcome.

Whether or not you can attend, please complete this short survey to give us your opinions before the event. This will help us ensure the event answers your questions.

We need every one of you pitching in.

If you’re unable to attend, there are several ways you can still help.

• Complete this short survey to provide your opinions, ideas and other feedback.
• Do you have ideas of how we can increase kinship or foster family recruitment? Share them with us!
• Do you know a church, business, civic group or school that would allow KVC to present about the needs of children and families? Contact Jackie Harwig at 913-956-5319 or jharwig@kvc.org.
• Do you have suggestions of how we can provide compassionate, effective care to every child and family we serve? Let us know. We have high standards and we need everyone’s input and support.