Partnerships
Dr. Glenn Saxe, director of The Child Study Center at New York University's Langone Medical Center, has worked with KVC to adapt his Trauma Systems Therapy (TST) approach to the foster care community. This aims to equip foster parents to better support children who have experienced trauma such as abuse or neglect.
KVC Health Systems partnered with the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Child Trends, and the Child Study Center at New York University to conduct a five-year study of integrating trauma-informed care into the child welfare system. The study found that the implementation of TST throughout the entire agency was successful and created positive results for children. Children exposed to TST showed measurable improvements in functioning, behavior regulation and placement stability (which means not moving from foster family to foster family). Within the first three months of exposure to trauma-informed care, children also showed improvements in emotional regulation. Finally, staff reported higher levels of effectiveness with children based on concerted care using an integrated, multi-disciplinary approach grounded in a common language and shared interventions.
Sesame Street in Communities has partnered with KVC Health Systems to help bring resources to children and families in the Kansas City, KS area. This partnership will allow for KVC to train our employees and share with the families we serve on how to best help children deal with difficult topics like grief, traumatic experiences and others.
Foster care is a system in which a minor has been placed into a ward, group home, or private home of a state-certified caregiver, referred to as a "foster parent", or with a family member approved by the state. The placement of a "foster child" is normally arranged through the government or a social service agency. The institution, group home, or foster parent is compensated for expenses unless with a family member. In some states, relative or "Kinship" caregivers of children who are wards of the state are provided with a financial stipend.
Child advocacy refers to a range of individuals, professionals and advocacy organizations who speak out on the best interests of children. An individual or organization engaging in advocacy typically seeks to protect children's rights which may be abridged or abused in a number of areas.
Maximus Inc. is an American government services company, with global operations in countries including the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The company contracts with government agencies to provide services to manage and administer government-sponsored programs. Maximus provides administration and other services for Medicaid, Medicare, health care reform, welfare-to-work, and student loan servicing among other government programs. The company is based in Tysons, Virginia, has 34,300 employees and a reported annual revenue of $3.46 billion in fiscal year 2020.
Foster children in Canada are known as permanent wards. A ward is someone, in this case a child, placed under protection of a legal guardian and are the legal responsibility of the government. Census data from 2011 counted children in foster care for the first time, counting 47,885 children in care. The majority of foster children – 29,590, or about 62% – were aged 14 and under. The wards remain under the care of the government until they "age out of care." This age is different depending on the province.
Child protective services (CPS) is the name of an agency in many states of the United States responsible for providing child protection, which includes responding to reports of child abuse or neglect. Some states use other names, often attempting to reflect more family-centered practices, such as department of children and family services (DCFS). CPS is also sometimes known by the name of department of social services, though these terms more often have a broader meaning.
Child Trends is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, research center based in Bethesda, Maryland, that conducts research on children, children's families, child well-being, and factors affecting children's lives.
The Children's Guild is a leading Mid-Atlantic nonprofit organization serving children, families, and child serving organizations dedicated to transforming the way children are cared for and educated across Maryland and Washington, DC, through education, career services, and behavioral health. Since its founding in 1953, The Children's Guild has provided individualized transformational experiences to ensure children, families, and communities thrive. It has grown from a one-room preschool to serving thousands of children and their families through special education and charter schools, school-based mental health services, treatment foster care, autism services, family mental and behavioral health services, career and apprenticeship programs, and training and consultation.
Children's Institute Inc. (CII) is a nonprofit organization that provides services to children and families healing from the effects of family and community violence within Los Angeles. Founded in 1906 by Minnie Barton, Los Angeles's first female probation officer, the organization was first designed to help troubled young women who found themselves adrift in Los Angeles." The organization has since expanded its services to at-risk youth in Los Angeles who are affected by child abuse, neglect domestic and gang violence as well as poverty. CII is a multi-service organization that combines evidence-based clinical services, youth development programs and family support services designed to address the whole child and entire family. The organization provides various forms of trauma support—including therapy, intervention services, parenting workshops, early childcare programs and other support services offered in English, Spanish and Korean.
Medical centers in the United States are conglomerations of health care facilities including hospitals and research facilities that also either include or are closely affiliated with a medical school. Although the term medical center is sometimes loosely used to refer to any concentration of health care providers including local clinics and individual hospital buildings, the term academic medical center more specifically refers to larger facilities or groups of facilities that include a full spectrum of health services, medical education, and medical research.
Trauma Systems Therapy (TST) is a mental health treatment model for children and adolescents who have been exposed to trauma, defined as experiencing, witnessing, or confronting "an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others". TST focuses on the child's emotional and behavioral needs as well as the environments where the child lives (home, school, community). The treatment model includes four components (skill-based psychotherapy, home and community-based care, advocacy, and psychopharmacology) that are fully described in a published manual. A clinical trial showed that TST is effective in improving the mental health and well-being of children who have been traumatized. TST has also been successfully replicated.
The Barber National Institute is a nonprofit, multi-faceted organization that provides services to more than 6,300 children, adults, and families who are faced with autism, intellectual disabilities, and behavioral health challenges. The institute’s central facility was founded in 1952 and is located in Erie, Pennsylvania. The Barber National Institute now employs more than 3,000 staff members throughout the state.
DePelchin Children's Center, founded in 1892 in Houston, Texas, is a nonprofit organization focused on supporting and sustaining children and the families who care for them. DePelchin provides a range of services for children and families — it is an accredited foster care and adoption agency, and it also provides residential treatment for youth in foster care, as well as serving youth who are about to age out of foster care or have recently aged out of foster care. DePelchin’s services also include counseling, parenting classes, and other services focused on protecting children and keeping families strong. The center continues to be recognized at the state and federal level for cutting-edge programs, including a federal grant as a leading child trauma expert in Texas.
Youthville is a nonprofit child welfare agency in Kansas involved in Foster Care, Adoption, Residential Treatment, Counseling and Therapy. The agency was founded in the early 1920s as an outreach of the United Methodist Church to be a residence for homeless and abandoned children. Youthville exercises custody of over 1,400 Kansas children and is one of the largest nonprofit organizations in the state of Kansas.
Foster care is the term used for a system in which a minor who has been made a ward is placed in an institution, group home, relative placement, or private home of a state certified caregiver. The placement of the child is usually arranged through the government or a social-service agency. The institution, group home, or foster parent is paid. The state via the family court and child protection agency stand in loco parentis to the minor, making all legal decisions, while the foster parent is responsible for the day-to-day care of the minor. The foster parent is remunerated by the state for their services.
The New York City Administration for Children's Services (ACS) is a New York City government agency that protects and promotes safety and the well-being of New York City's children and families by providing child welfare, juvenile justice, and early care and education services.
Children's Health is a pediatric health care system in North Texas anchored by two hospitals, Children's Medical Center Dallas and Children's Medical Center Plano, as well as seven specialty centers and 19 pediatric clinics located throughout the region. A private, not-for-profit organization, Children's Health provides pediatric health, wellness and acute care services for children from birth to age 21, including specialty care, primary care, home health, a pediatric research institute, and community outreach services.
Graham Windham is a private nonprofit in New York City that provides services to children and families. It was founded in 1806 by several prominent women, most notably Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton. Since 2015, the organization has received greater awareness due to the success of the Broadway musical Hamilton, in which the character of Eliza describes the orphanage as her proudest achievement.
Residential child care communities or children's homes are a type of residential care, which refers to long-term care given to children who cannot stay in their birth family home. There are two different approaches towards residential care: The family model and the shift care model.
Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago is a policy research institution at the University of Chicago that focuses on child welfare and family well-being. Chapin Hall is funded through social service systems, foundations, and non-profit organizations. The organization's focus areas include child welfare and foster care systems, youth homelessness, and community capacity to support children, youth, and families. Chapin Hall is an affiliated research center of the University of Chicago.
The Kansas Department for Children and Families is a state agency in Kansas, responsible for the delivery of social services to those in need of them.
