Protecting children and keeping kids safe is the heart of our work at KVC. When families are in crisis due to family challenges or mental health needs, caring KVC professionals step in for the very purpose of safety. Our track record on child safety is why state child welfare agencies across the U.S. trust us to care for tens of thousands of children and families each year.
Our Child Safety Track Record
KVC Kansas is a private, nonprofit organization that strengthens families, prevents child abuse and neglect, and helps people achieve mental health wellness. KVC Kansas is a subsidiary of KVC Health Systems. KVC’s family of nonprofit organizations offers one of the nation’s broadest continuums of care, from the least intensive services like family strengthening prevention and education, to the most intensive services like inpatient children’s mental health treatment.
Every KVC program and service measures child safety and wellbeing.
Nationally, KVC is:
- Exceeding all state and federal performance outcomes for child safety across programs: inpatient children’s mental health treatment, residential treatment, and community-based programs like foster care and family strengthening prevention.
- Accredited by The Joint Commission, a gold seal for health care quality and patient safety.
- Trusted by state social services agencies in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Kentucky, and West Virginia, and has provided consultation to child welfare agencies in Washington, D.C.; Hennepin Co, MN; Fairfax County, VA; Singapore and others (learn more).
- Recognized for the results of a five-year study with the Annie E. Casey Foundation and others showing that KVC’s trauma-informed care creates positive outcomes (learn more).
At the state and local level:
- KVC Kansas: We play a significant role in the Kansas child welfare system, providing foster care case management in Area 3 and Area 6, and recruiting, training, and supporting more loving foster family homes statewide than any other organization. The Kansas foster care system is safe, and in fact safer than most other U.S. states. We know this through data on the Maltreatment in Foster Care report. This report is used by all state foster care systems to measure their performance on the #1 safety outcome of the federal Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs). In fact, out of the state’s eight catchment areas, Area 3 serving Topeka, Hiawatha and the surrounding counties is the safest area of the state for children in foster care. Learn more about KVC Kansas.
- Camber Children’s Mental Health: Camber provides children’s inpatient mental health and residential treatment at three Camber Children’s Mental Health centers in Kansas. Camber’s services are designed to ensure safety for youth who are experiencing a mental health crisis or otherwise have elevated needs. Learn more about Camber Children’s Mental Health.
How and Where to Report Abuse
Thank you for taking the first step in protecting children. For emergencies, call your local law enforcement agency or 911.
We encourage you to report suspected abuse or neglect to the Kansas Protection Report Center at 1-800-922-5330 or learn more here.
Safeguards in Place
KVC Kansas has dozens of safety policies, procedures, protocols, and other safeguards in place to protect children. These include:
- Background checks – We require all employees and volunteers to undergo background checks.
- Culture of safety – We create an agency-wide culture of safety through policies and procedures, as well as culture of employee engagement.
- Mandatory reporting – KVC employees are required to immediately report any allegations of child abuse or neglect.
- Third-party experts – We engage with third-party safety experts for training and best practices. We also have a risk management firm that conducts audits and maintains a third-party hotline to report any misconduct.
- Robust training – We train employees, foster families and other caregivers in areas like crisis intervention, de-escalation techniques, trauma-informed care, and recognizing warning signs for aggressive behavior. We also have cameras in all our fleet vehicles to monitor driving safety and conduct regular car seat safety trainings and checks.
- National standards – We maintain both national and local policies and procedures for child protection.
- Incident reporting – Using both custom-built and third-party software, employees are able to immediately report critical incidents, automatically notifying leaders and our state partners. This streamlined process helps ensure fast communication, transparency and safety.
- Appropriate staffing – We ensure appropriate staff to youth ratios.
- External reporting – We constantly report on our performance and outcomes to our external partners including state agencies, Medicaid managed care organizations, and private insurance companies.
- Medication safety – We manage youth medication to ensure client safety (learn more).
Resources for Parents, Guardians, and Other Community Members
We’ve published hundreds of educational articles on how to prevent child abuse and neglect, and how to keep children safe. Learn more by exploring these articles.
Top Stories
Additional Reading
Success Stories of Children and Families We Served
Each year, we help thousands of children, older youth, and families find the safety, connection, and support they need to thrive. Check out some of the people whose lives have been transformed with the help of KVC professionals and caregiver families.
Read Aby and Ashton’s inspiring story of family reunification after four years in foster care. Discover hope and the power of second chances.
As a child, Ray experienced abuse and neglect. In this blog, he shares his story of foster care, resilience, and how he’s now transforming the lives of children just like him.
Michelle is a teacher who cared for two of her students as a non-related kinship caregiver, and eventually adopted them. Now the children are thriving, and Michelle is encouraging others to take the first step to learn more about fostering or adopting a child in need. Read Michelle and her family’s story of resilience, trust and joy.
Read how Gabriella overcame adversity to reunify with her son after foster care and how she now dedicates her life to empowering parents and families involved with child welfare through advocacy, mentorship and leadership.
Read how Robin took control of her destiny, choosing to defy the statistics about children in foster care rather than be defined by them.
After experiencing several hardships, a couple’s children had to enter foster care. Learn about the hurdles they overcame to safely reunify.
Growing up, Sierra was abused, neglected and never felt safe in her own home. Her foster parents have been instrumental in helping her heal and experience the love and support she deserves.
Four brothers and sisters needed a forever family. Thankfully, the perfect family was looking for them. Read this heartwarming teen adoption story.
From Foster Care to Fatherhood: Ray’s Journey to Becoming a Successful Family Man and Youth Mentor [VIDEO]
