KVC hosted its annual Resource Family Conference event on April 26-27 at the Overland Park Marriott featuring national keynote speakers Mark Anthony Garrett and Kevin Brown to provide foster, birth and adoptive parents and their children with a fun and educational weekend experience.

Each year, the Resource Family Conference provides 1,000 parents and children with a series of events, inspiring speakers and parental networking opportunities. Families arrived Friday night and were treated to entertainment, dinner and complimentary hotel rooms. The educational component of the conference began Saturday when speakers addressed current issues facing the foster care system. Through their attendance, parents obtained training hours that help them meet state licensing requirements and learned tools to deal with their unique situations. While parents participated in numerous presentations and workshops, children enjoyed fun activities and teenagers received specialized programming to educate and empower them as foster care youth.

Keynote speaker Mark Anthony Garrett grew up in the Ohio foster care system and is now a leading expert and highly sought-after speaker in the child welfare industry who has dedicated his life to helping trouble youth and adults overcome negative challenges in their lives. Following Garrett’s keynote, parents attended a panel discussion featuring area judges and then selected from workshops on topics including human trafficking, emotional regulation, teens aging out of foster care, effects of trauma, and psychotropic medication use with children.

Teenagers attended specialized morning programming with their own keynote speaker, Kevin Brown, who grew up in the California foster care system and is now a renowned author and speaker who assists teens and young adults in self-efficacy and maximizing their potential. Following the morning programming, teens participated in carnival and field day activities. Children under 12 will participate in age-appropriate activities, including carnival games, music and entertainment from Radio Disney.

“We are thrilled to have offered our Resource Family Conference as a unique training opportunity for our foster parents, as well as a bonding experience for the families and kids we serve,” Chad Anderson, President of KVC Behavioral HealthCare, Inc., said. “Many of these families have formed relationships at RFC that extend far beyond the weekend of the conference and it’s wonderful to see these families reconnect year after year.”

KVC utilizes volunteers and fundraises year-round to underwrite the entire cost of the conference for all attendees. In addition, KVC locations throughout the country, including Nebraska, West Virginia and Kentucky hold concurrent Resource Family Conferences and will join Kansas attendees via teleconference for the keynote speakers.