Adoption Resources

Kansas adoption resources

Explore KVC Kansas’ Adoption Resources and Support

Giving a child the foundation of a loving, caring family is a tremendously rewarding experience. This lifelong commitment can make all the difference in the world to a child. At KVC, we work to ensure the successful, life-long adoptive match of both a family and a child in need. Before and after adoption, we give families the tools, education and resources needed to ease the transition, make a successful bond and build a strong future.

Once a family has finalized an adoption, KVC provides your family with individualized support services for up to 12 months following the adoption finalization. These services are intended to help your family with the transition and adjustment period while addressing any concerns, questions, challenges, and of course, celebrating wins!

We can also provide support through outpatient in-home family therapy, medication management, and can help you address other family needs and access resources for parenting children who have experienced trauma.

light green zig zag dividing line

Where KVC Provides Adoption Services

KVC Kansas provides adoption services in the 11 counties where we provide foster care case management services. Those counties include: Brown, Doniphan, Douglas, Jackson, Jefferson, Johnson, Marshall, Nemaha, Pottawotomie, Shawnee and Wabaunsee.

light green zig zag dividing line

Additional Resources

Click here for a list of adoption resources and visit the Kansas Post Adoption Resource Center for other adoption resources.

Here are a few of the many available websites containing information about adoption.

North American Council on Adoptable Children – Founded in 1974 by adoptive parents, the North American Council on Adoptable Children is committed to meeting the needs of waiting children and the families who adopt them.  Through advocacy, education, adoption support, and leadership development in the U.S. and Canada, NACAC helps to reform systems, alter viewpoints, and change lives.

Spaulding Resource Center – This multi-faceted organization provides help to children who wait the longest for permanency and support services for their adoptive, foster and kinship families. Nationwide, Spaulding’s Resource Center provides training, consultation and informational materials for professionals, organizations and parents.

National Adoption Center – Research adoption information in our resource library. Order adoption books through our adoption bookstore or subscribe to our free e-zine. Post a message or chat with other adoptive families.  You will also want to introduce your children to the Adoption Clubhouse, a unique website where children can learn about adoption and express their thoughts about adoption.

Adopting.org – Information and education for adoptive parents meeting everyday and unusual challenges. Find resources to help you team up with doctors, teachers, and therapists. Hear what others have to say about the search for birth family and other sensitive issues.

Adoptivefamilies.com  – Adoptive Families, the award-winning national adoption magazine, is the leading adoption information source for families before, during, and after adoption.

Resource for Parents Welcoming an Adopted Child Into Their Home – Practical tips to help caregivers and families during and after the adoption process.

The following books are recommended by and available through the National Child Welfare Resource Center for Adoption.

Benjamin Bear Gets A New Family by Deborah Berry Joy – This children’s book deals in story-book form with the feelings many children experience resulting from their birth parents’ inability to provide care for them, as well as feelings related to their subsequent adoption. Opportunities and guidelines are provided for discussion.

The Long Journey Home by Richard Delaney – A children’s book that facilitates the discussion of grief and loss along with the desire to search for biological links.

Adoption is for Always by Linda Walvoord Girard – This book helps children uncover and explore their questions and concerns about adoption in a safe and loving way.

A Koala for Katie by Jonathan London – This book explores adoption in a “child’s own” language and helps reassure the child is loved. The book offers parents the opportunity to explore and reinforce their love for their child.

We’re Different, We’re the Same by Bobbi Jane Kates and Featuring Jim Henson’s Sesame Street Muppets – The colorful characters from “Sesame Street” teach young children about racial differences and harmony. This book can assist parents who have adopted transracially explore the richness of differences with their children.

We See the Moon by Carrie A. Kitze – This book begins the life-long dialog between parents and children about adoption.

At Home in This World by Jean MacLeod – In this book, a preadolescent girl tells her story about what she remembers and understands of her young life before and after adoption. It addresses the underlying feelings and emotions that surround adoption.

I Don’t Have Your Eyes by Carrie Kitze – This book is for a child who may look or feel different for whatever reason – being in a foster care placement, having stepparents, and/or being adopted. It explores and celebrates the differences within families, as well as the similarities that connect them to one another.

Robert Lives with his Grandparents by Martha Whitmore Hickman – This book deals with the struggles that youth face when they go to live with their grandparents because their mother and father are unable to care for them.

Henry the Hermit Crab: A Storybook-Work for Children with Attachment Issues by Deborah Berry Joy – This children’s book deals with the issues of attachment. It allows the child to write their own story and has questions to encourage the development of the story.

Did My First Mother Love Me? A Story for an Adopted Child by Kathryn Ann Miller

I Wasn’t Done Loving You Yet. A Book for Grieving Teens by Sandi Dahm

Our Home Is Your Home. A Journaling Tool For Foster Kids by Sandi Dahm

Do You Know What Adoption Means? My Coloring Book by Carol Rippey.