KVC Health Systems Breaks Ground on New Research Institute
Olathe, KS – June 3, 2014 – KVC Health Systems, a national leader in child welfare and behavioral healthcare, held a groundbreaking ceremony on May 29 for its new Institute for Practice Improvement and Innovations in Child and Family Services. The Institute will adjoin KVC’s corporate headquarters at 21350 W. 153rd St. in Olathe, Kan., and include special features like a high-tech Interactive Adoption Center to help more children in foster care find their forever family.
As a lead contractor for the Kansas Department for Children and Families, KVC is responsible for more than half of all children (3,000+) in state custody due to abuse, neglect or other family challenges. By adopting evidence-based practices and ongoing parent training into its model, KVC has helped the state of Kansas dramatically improve its performance on national child welfare outcomes. The new Institute will allow KVC to propel these and other proven initiatives into direct service, taking them to scale much more quickly than currently occurs, to the benefit of tens of thousands of children and families each year. In addition to its work in Kansas, KVC also serves children and families in Missouri, Nebraska, Kentucky, West Virginia and Washington, D.C., and provides consulting to the nation of Singapore in Southeast Asia.
Major donors for the Building Families capital campaign, which is resulting in the new Institute, include the Ball Family, Mabee Foundation, Hall Family Foundation, Sunderland Foundation, Kelly Family Foundation, Regnier Family Foundation, Dunn Family Foundation, Garmin International, and the Goppert Foundation. Speakers at the groundbreaking ceremony included B. Wayne Sims, President and CEO of KVC Health Systems, Inc.; David Ball, President of Ball’s Food Stores and Chair of the KVC Health Systems Board of Directors; Mayor Michael Copeland of the City of Olathe, Kan.; and Tim McKee of the Olathe Chamber of Commerce.
“With this groundbreaking, we are setting the stage for the next decade,” said Sims. “We see this new Institute as KVC’s research & development arm, so to speak. Thanks to the generous support of many foundations and community partners, we can find best practices and expedite them into real-world practice to help tens of thousands more children and families.”
KVC is still seeking charitable contributions for its Building Families campaign for technological enhancements and other needs. To learn more, please contact Michelle Lawrence at (913) 322-4941 or mlawrence@kvc.org.