Dr. Linda Bass became President of KVC Kansas in January 2019. Bass, pronounced “boss,” has been with KVC Kansas for 16 years. She previously served as Vice President of Clinical Services and Wellbeing, leading KVC’s foster care prevention programs (family preservation), intensive in-home services (aftercare support following each child’s safe family reunification or adoption), and outpatient behavioral healthcare. As President, she now also oversees foster care case management, KVC’s network of foster and adoptive parents, and all other services.

“Linda is extremely competent, operates with strong values and morals, and always places children and families first,” said Jason Hooper. “She is exactly what we want our leaders to be in that she is a consummate professional and always working to raise the bar for service quality. She is driven by achieving outcomes for children, and as President, Linda will leverage her wealth of clinical and programmatic expertise to create brighter futures for the children and families we serve.”

Bass is a licensed clinical marriage and family therapist with expertise in the treatment of trauma, sibling abuse, and child behavior problems. She has worked in child welfare for nearly 20 years. Prior to KVC, Bass worked in child placing, kinship care and residential care. At KVC, Bass led several research-backed initiatives including the implementation of the Kansas Intensive Permanency Project (KIPP); the Kansas Adoption Permanency Project (KAPP); and the creation and growth of an Engaging Parents/Developing Leaders group for parents involved in the child welfare system. She is also a thought leader on the groundbreaking Family First Act which increases funding for foster care prevention by keeping children with their families whenever safely possible.

Bass earned her bachelor’s and master’s degree from San Diego State University and doctoral degree from Loma Linda University. She has published in the areas of sibling abuse, clinical process and practitioners’ perceptions of implementing evidence-based practices.

Bass’s vision for KVC Kansas includes an expanded focus on prevention services, safely reducing the number of children in foster care, and increased support for caregivers and staff.

Danielle Bartelli, Vice President of KVC Kansas, has been with KVC since 2000, joining just three years into the public-private child welfare partnership between the state of Kansas and KVC. She led efforts to decrease care for children in residential settings such as group homes, increase community-based care of children by relatives and foster families, and reduce the time children were in foster care. She was instrumental in forging community and provider partnerships to ensure lasting change.

Over the last 21 years, Bartelli rose from a family support worker to her current leadership role. She will oversee all programs, ensuring children and families who receive child welfare services have the best possible care. Ongoing program improvement is a priority for Bartelli who is committed to continued implementation of evidence-based practices and measuring outcomes.

Bartelli is a licensed professional counselor (LPC) and received her master’s degree in mental health counseling from Emporia State University in Emporia, Kan.

Angela Hedrick, LPC, is Vice President at KVC Kansas. She joined KVC in 2008. Over the past thirteen years, she has held various positions including Case Manager, Permanency Supervisor and Director, and Director of Integrated Services. She recently was the Director of Training, Policy and Data Management. Angela is strategic, solution-focused, and seeks to find common ground through collaboration and understanding. As a former Kansas foster parent and now adoptive parent, Angela brings a wealth of professional and personal experience to the position.

Matt Arnet, LCPC, is Director of Outpatient Services for KVC Kansas. In this role, he oversees the day-to-day operations of the outpatient therapists, medication management providers and master’s level psychologists for the Metro and East regions in Kansas.

Matt began working for KVC as a Therapeutic Case Manager in 2007. When the Outpatient department was formed in October of 2007, Matt was one of the initial eight in-home clinicians. He worked as the Intake Coordinator for the Independence, Missouri School-based Therapy Grant in 2010, before returning to Kansas Outpatient in 2011. In 2012, Matt was promoted to Outpatient Supervisor before being promoted to Outpatient Director in 2013.

In addition to duties with Outpatient, Matt is an internal consultant for Trauma Systems Therapy (TST), completing staffings for children in Family Preservation and Out-of-Home Care.

Matt received his Bachelors of Arts in Psychology from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2001, and his Master’s in Counseling Psychology from Avila University in 2006.

Adrienne Baars, LAC, is Director of Admissions at KVC Kansas.

Kelly Beale is Director of Intensive In-Home Services at KVC Kansas.

Krista Bundy, LMSW, is Director of Prevention Services at KVC Kansas.

Gabrielle Darrow is Director of Human Resources at KVC Kansas.

Kristina Foster is Director of Marketing and Communications at KVC Kansas.

Jackie Harwig is Director of Community Engagement at KVC Kansas. She has been with KVC for more than 15 years. In her role, she is responsible for supporting foster parent recruiters, licensing workers and community resource specialist teams.

Abby Herrera is Director of Transportation at KVC Kansas. She received a bachelor’s degree in justice studies with a minor in sociology from Pittsburg State University. She is a Certified Passenger Safety Technician.

She started as a night shift transportation coordinator while attending PSU. Since then she has been a transporter, day shift coordinator, driver supervisor and coordinating supervisor. Abby also helped develop the transportation request system in KVC’s CARE software.

Erica Herzog, LCMFT, is Director of Outpatient Services – East Region at KVC Kansas.

Nicole Hines, LMSW, is Director of Policy, Training and Data Management at KVC Kansas.

Megan Hosterman, LMSW, currently serves as the Director of Permanency at KVC Kansas, overseeing foster care child welfare case management services for Johnson and Douglas counties. In this role, she is dedicated to ensuring the safety and timely permanency of children in foster care.

Megan also manages the Strengthening Families Program, offering essential support and resources to families, focusing on healthy communication, substance use prevention, setting child behavior expectations and building stronger bonds.

With a social work career spanning more than 16 years, Megan began her KVC journey in 2007 as a permanency case manager. She has since taken on various roles within KVC, including training specialist, permanency supervisor and director of integrated services. Throughout her career, she has been a driving force in positively impacting the lives of thousands of children and families throughout Kansas.

Megan is a licensed master social worker in Kansas. She received a master’s and bachelor’s degree in social work from the University of Kansas. Megan is also currently an adjunct professor for the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare.

“I’m truly passionate about this work and feel extremely grateful for the opportunity to help influence positive change in the field of child and family services.” – Megan Hosterman

Kevin McKenzie is Legal Counsel at KVC Kansas.

Lisa Milford is Director of Child Placing Agency (CPA) – Pittsburg, Wichita and Non-Contract at KVC Kansas.

Regena Pearl is Director of the Qualified Residential Treatment Program (QRTP) at KVC Kansas.

Kierstin Reed, LMSW, is Director of Adoption Services at KVC Kansas.

Jerilyn Smith serves as Director of Permanency at KVC Kansas, where she oversees child welfare case management services for the Topeka and Topeka Rural areas. In this role, she works to ensure children in foster care reach safe and timely permanency.

With more than 25 years of social work and child welfare experience, Jerilyn brings a wealth of experience and steadfast commitment to Kansas children and families. During her career with KVC Kansas, she served in a variety of roles including family support worker, therapeutic case manager, supervisor and more. In each capacity, Jerilyn consistently demonstrated exceptional leadership, empathy, and unwavering dedication to improving the lives of children and families involved in the child welfare system.

Outside of KVC, Jerilyn led a team of volunteers providing round-the-clock crisis intervention to victims of sexual violence and trauma in Douglas, Franklin and Jefferson counties.

Jerilyn is a licensed master social worker in Kansas. She received a master’s degree in social work and a bachelor’s degree in sociology with a concentration in women’s studies from the University of Kansas.

“Building relationships has always been important to me personally and as a social worker. It’s the most crucial part of our work at KVC! I love coming to work each day and connecting with youth, families, caregivers, coworkers and community professionals to collaborate and be the village our families need to be successful – one small change at a time.” – Jerilyn Smith

Kimberly Smith is Director of Kinship at KVC Kansas.

Anastasia Trulson, LMSW, is Director of Child Placing Agency – East Region at KVC Kansas.

Evan Wood is Director of Child Placing Agency (CPA) – Kansas City Metro at KVC Kansas.

Rachel Gauntt-Weaver, LMSW, is Assistant Director of Permanency at KVC Kansas. Rachel helps lead a team that provides foster care case management services to youth and their families.