- Services
Core Services
Families First
Children and teens belong with their own families whenever possible. KVC works to safely reintegrate hundreds of families each year by providing parenting skills training, therapy and other support.
Caring People Needed
On any given day, KVC Kansas provides out-of-home care for thousands of youth. Relatives, non-related kin like teachers and neighbors, and foster families are all critical to providing temporary care for these children and teens. See how you can make a difference.
- Impact
- Get Involved
Children and Families Need You
Through KVC, you can strengthen families, prevent child abuse and neglect, and help create a bright future where every person is safe and connected to a strong family and a healthy community. Please join us today! Learn More
- Resources
Overview
Our free resources help you stay informed and educated about foster care, child welfare, adoption, mental health and childhood trauma as well as how KVC Kansas is working toward building healthier communities.
- Events
- About Us
About KVC Kansas
KVC Kansas is a private, nonprofit organization that serves nearly 13,000 children and adults each year. Our team of professionals provides family strengthening and preventative services, foster care case management, family reunification services, foster family recruitment and support, adoption, aftercare, outpatient therapy and more.
We envision a world in which every person is safe and connected to a strong family and a healthy community.
- Blog
About KVC Kansas
Dear Friends & Partners,
Thank you for your interest in strengthening Kansas children and families. My name is Linda Bass (“boss”) and I am honored to serve as President of KVC Kansas.
KVC Kansas (legal name KVC Behavioral Healthcare) is a private, nonprofit organization that serves over 15,000 children and adults each year. You can read about our annual impact here. Our team of professionals provides family strengthening and preventative services, parent training, foster care case management, family reunification services, foster family recruitment and support, adoption, aftercare, outpatient therapy and more. Our legal name is KVC Behavioral Healthcare and our parent organization is KVC Health Systems.
My priorities are (1) expanding our prevention work in order to reach more families and provide critical support before children are at risk for separation, and (2) increasing support for our dedicated caregivers and staff.
We exist to serve Kansas children and families in need because we all need connection. The families we serve face serious challenges including mental illness, addiction, economic stress, family discord, child abuse and neglect, divorce, domestic violence, parental incarceration, the loss of loved ones, and ultimately, isolation. Our staff come alongside them with professional expertise and compassion. They help them come up with a personalized plan to achieve their goals and become the parents they have dreamed of becoming. We help stop the cycle of childhood adversity.
As a child and family serving organization, KVC commits to treating every person with compassion and respect. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin, disability, marital status, sexual orientation or military status.
What unites us is a set of core values, such as: The heart of our work is helping people. Our character is built on authenticity and compassion. Family connection drives our culture. Learn more about our team’s passion through the video below, and please join us in supporting and advocating for families!
Sincerely,
Linda Bass, PhD, LCMFT
President, KVC Kansas
We All Need Connection
50+ Years of Child Welfare Leadership
We are very grateful and proud to have partnered with the Kansas Department for Children and Families since the agency first decided to use public/private partnerships in the late 1990s – over 20 years now. Read the remarkable story of about how private partners like KVC helped Kansas become a national child welfare leader. While our state is in a challenging time right now with a higher number of children in foster care, we know that capacity-building, prevention and additional funding will help Kansas become a national child welfare leader once again.
A group of women volunteers founded what is now over KVC 50 years ago in Kansas City, KS. Learn more about our history or read about KVC’s partners and affiliations here.
From Foster Care to Mental Health Support: Explore 10 KVC Kansas Programs
Get to Know KVC Kansas' Outpatient Behavioral Health Services
Get to Know KVC Kansas' Admissions Team
Get to Know KVC Kansas' Permanency Department
Get to Know KVC Kansas' Kinship Department
Get to Know KVC Kansas' Aftercare Department
Get to Know KVC Kansas' Adoption Team
Get to Know KVC Kansas' Child Placing Agency (CPA) Team
Get to Know KVC Kansas' Qualified Residential Treatment Program (QRTP)
Get to Know KVC Kansas' Transportation Department
KVC Kansas Exceeding Federal Performance Standards
We are exceeding federal outcome standards set by the federal Child and Family Services Review (CFSR) in some of the most important areas such as safety in foster care, placement of children with relatives, or placement of children in family-like settings rather than group homes. Read more here: Performance Matters: How KVC Kansas Is Doing on Federal Foster Care Standards
Also check out this recent article from Dr. Linda Bass: How to strengthen Kansas foster care and help children and families thrive.
We are working hard to exceed all other outcomes. KVC is accredited by The Joint Commission, considered the gold standard in healthcare.
Click here to contact the Joint Commission about KVC.
Our Differentiators
- Evidence-Informed – We are involved with a number of federal grants studying evidence-based interventions focused on improving timely permanency, safety and wellbeing. As one example, KVC worked with NYU, the Annie E. Casey Foundation and others to conduct a 5-year study of the impact of making our foster care and other programs trauma-informed. The results shows that implementation of Trauma Systems Therapy measurably improved children’s functioning, emotion and behavior regulation and placement stability.
- Broad Continuum of Care – In addition to prevention programs and foster care, one of our KVC sister organizations provides children’s mental health hospitals and psychiatric residential treatment facilities providing intensive treatment to youth.
- High Achievement – Each year, we safely prevent about 6,000 children from entering foster care through prevention services and we also facilitate 360 children’s adoptions – which is essentially 1 child’s adoption every day. See our annual impact here.
- Expertise – We provide training and consultation around the world on topics like right-sizing congregate care (from 30% to 4% in Kansas) and safely reducing the use of psychotropic medication by youth in foster care (to 9%, one of the lowest rates in the nation). KVC Kansas also supports the infrastructure for Parent Management Training Oregon (PMTO) which has demonstrated improved child and family outcomes along with significant cost savings as compared to treatment as usual.
- Engaging Caregivers – We have an active group of parents whose children were or are in foster care. We learn from these parents how to improve our services. They also serve as mentors to other parents involved in the child welfare system. We also have a foster family conference which brings together 1,000 people for training and camaraderie.
Our Priorities
We believe that capacity-building, prevention and funding are the keys to strengthening the child welfare system. The cost savings and improved outcomes related to prevention services are clear. High quality prevention services cost on average $5,000-10,000 per family compared to $78,000 per family for one year of foster care (assuming three children average). KVC Kansas is focused on leading prevention efforts in Kansas through our current contracts and expanding services to prevent additional children to remain safe at home through Family First Prevention Services Act funded preventions services.
What is KVC’s Vision, Mission & Values?
Our Vision: A world in which every person is safe and connected to a strong family and a healthy community.
Our Mission: To enrich and enhance the lives of children and families by providing medical and behavioral healthcare, social services and education.
What We Value:
- The heart of our work is helping people.
- Our character is built on authenticity and compassion.
- Family connection drives our culture.
- Collaboration fuels our improvement.
- Urgency and innovation mark our approach.
- Diverse perspectives are key to our progress.
Licensure and Accreditation
Accreditation
KVC Kansas (KVC Behavioral Healthcare) is accredited by The Joint Commission and is considered the gold standard in healthcare.
Licensure
KVC Kansas Child Placing Agency
Kansas Department for Children and Families
Effective August 21, 2023
KVC Kansas Qualified Residential Treatment Program
Kansas Department for Children and Families
Effective January 1, 2019
KVC Kansas Substance Use Disorder Treatment – Olathe
Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services
Effective January 1, 2023
KVC Kansas Substance Use Disorder Treatment – Topeka
Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services
Effective January 1, 2023