KVC Kansas

In 1970, the Wyandotte County Juvenile Courts identified a community need for at-risk children. The Junior League addressed this need by opening a single- community group home to serve adolescent boys. From 1980 to 1995, KVC grew and now represents one of the strongest child welfare and behavioral healthcare continuums of care in the nation. This dedication to excellence allows KVC to meet the needs of any child and family who require behavioral health treatment, no matter how significant.

Significant components of KVC’s continuum of care in Kansas include the “book-ends” of community-based, therapeutic and case management supports. This care begins with KVC's “no reject-no eject”  policy and stretches to include acute care services for those with the greatest needs.  KVC provides strong outpatient and in-home therapy services and recruits, licenses, trains and supports more than 500 foster families across eastern Kansas. KVC’s 80-acre campus in Kansas City, Kansas, provides a professional and effective, yet family-friendly treatment environment.  KVC provides psychiatric hospital and sub-acute services, as well as Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility (PRTF) programs. KVC's services across Kansas have been accredited by The Joint Commission since 1991.

In 1996, the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services (SRS) initiated the privatization of the state’s child welfare services and selected KVC as one of its initial lead contractors. KVC has remained a primary contractor and significant partner with SRS.  KVC continues to raise the bar in its provision of child welfare services, with broad experience in both urban and rural communities. KVC staff provide case management services geared toward the achievement of safe and timely permanency for children and families. Aftercare is provided for a full year to assure safety and stability. KVC also became responsible for adoption services in July 2005, when these services were added to the foster care/reintegration contracts.  In April 2008, KVC celebrated the adoption of 1,000 children, and that number continues to grow.

In 2006, SRS awarded a grant to KVC to provide acute, inpatient services to children and adolescents from across eastern Kansas.  This allowed the state to close Rainbow State Hospital units. KVC's program has been tremendously successful.  It offers a child-and family-friendly treatment programs, delivered with fiscal accountability.  As a result, in late 2009, KVC was awarded a grant to replicate this program for the western half of the state. KVC’s Wheatland Psychiatric Hospital in Hays, Kansas opened in May of 2010 to serve children and families in western and central Kansas.