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Youthville
"Youthville" is one of the largest nonprofit agencies in the state of Kansas. Established in 1927, Youthville provides adoption services, foster care, case management services, psychiatric residential treatment, community based services, individual community support, life skills, and aftercare to Kansas children and their families.
Youthville cares for over 1800 children every day.
History
In the early 1920s, the United Methodist Church recognized the need for a residence for homeless and abandoned children. The mission was adopted to provide shelter and care to these children. The church's mission quickly became a reality when Mr. Edward P. Libbey of Newton, Kansas left the bulk of his estate to the project, and the City of Newton, Kansas followed by leading fundraising efforts. These efforts led to the purchase of 20 acres of land for an orphanage, which became the site of the Kansas Methodist Home for Children.
Libbey Hall, named after Mr. Libbey, was built in 1929. The campus also included an orchard, barns, a farmhouse, stables, granaries, cow lots, and chicken houses. Over the next three decades, a chapel and residential cottages were also built.
In 1960, the Board of Trustees officially changed the agency name to United Methodist Youthville. They also approved a plan that focused on providing services to adolescent youth with emotional or social adjustment problems. That same year, Youthville was asked to assume management for the Bronco Busters Boys Ranch in Dodge City. Youthville offices then began to spring up across the state.
In 1996, privatization impacted the child welfare system in Kansas. Youthville was granted the http://www.srskansas.org Social and Rehabilitation Services (SRS) state contract for foster care/reintegration services in western Kansas (Region 4) and Sedgwick County, Kansas (Region 5). Youthville currently retains the Sedgwick County state contract which serves over 1100 children each day who have been removed from their homes by SRS due to abuse, abandonment, or neglect. In addition, Youthville recruits, trains, and licenses over 350 foster care homes statewide and continues to offer extensive psychiatric residential treatment at the Newton, Kansas and Dodge City campuses.
Services
Youthville has offered a variety of child welfare services to the people of Kansas.
Youthville has historically provided numerous services necessary for foster care families throughout the state including:
- An assigned advocate to assist in navigating the foster care system
- 24-hour on-call support
- On-going training and support meetings in a variety of areas
- Regular communication regarding the children in care and contact with the foster care family in their home
- Liability insurance coverage
- Assistance with setting up other support services and resources as needed
- Paid daycare for working parents
- Health insurance coverage for children
- Property damage reimbursement
- Monthly stipend to provide for children in care
- Mileage reimbursement
- Other financial incentives
When it is not possible to reunite children with their parents and the court severs parental rights, Youthville helps look for other families who are willing to make a lifetime commitment to the child. They manage cases for hundreds of children who have been orphaned and are awaiting adoption. The parental rights of these children have been severed through the court system or relinquished by the birth parents. In addition to adopt-only homes, Youthville also offers families the option of becoming foster-to-adopt homes.
Reintegration and Case Management Services
Case Management services include child and family assessment, case planning, and delivery of services to ensure that children and families receive the help necessary to reunite the family in a timely manner. In most cases, the children and families that receive these services have been placed in the custody of the state due to child abuse, neglect, child abandonment, or the inability of parents to keep their children safe.
When children are initially referred to Youthville, generally the goal is for children to return home safely, also known as reintegration. While reintegration is the primary goal in most cases, Youthville also has concurrent plans to ensure timely, permanent living arrangements can be achieved when the goal of returning home is not possible. Concurrent planning emphasizes reintegration while simultaneously planning an alternative, should returning home not be possible.
The case management team for each child and family is comprised of a case manager and a family support worker, known together as a dyad. They focus on the identification, planning, and delivery of needed services to each family in order to facilitate permanent living arrangements for the children and families.
Clinical Services and Community Based Services
The Clinical Services department is designed to ensure that youth receive appropriate and timely psychiatric care and mental health treatment. Specialty programs are designed to assist the case management teams in achieving success for families and children. Community Based Services are offered in-home or close to where people live and work. These may include chemical dependency treatment, sexual issues treatment, animal-assisted therapy, and family or individual therapy.
Psychiatric Residential Treatment
This is a resource for children ages 10 to 18 who need treatment to address their behavioral issues and to overcome barriers preventing them from living in a family setting. Children may receive treatment in Newton, Kansas or Dodge City where they attend school and participate in intensive therapy.
This program treats youth diagnosed with clinical depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, ADHD, bipolar disorder, and more. Youthville specializes in stabilizing kids with out-of-control behaviors and successfully moving children to a lower level of treatment.
Therapeutic and Treatment Foster Care
This type of care serves children ages 5 to 21 who have severe behavioral and/or emotional issues. These children are often at risk of needing placement in a hospital or residential setting. Treatment is provided in a highly trained and supported foster care home with the goal of returning the child to their permanent family. Children receive needed treatment and services while experiencing the benefits of living in a family. Included within this service is Multidimensional Treatment Foster Care© (MTFC), serving youth ages 12 to 18. This treatment focuses specifically on serious behavior issues and lasts 6 to 9 months. Therapeutic Foster Care provides the following services:
- Clinical staff provide services to the child through an individualized treatment plan
- Clinical staff provide support to foster family through weekly contact
- 24-hour on-call support
- Ongoing training and education to the foster family to further develop skills that best meet the needs of the children placed in their home
- Limited number of placements allowed for therapeutic/treatment level children in a foster home
- Additional enhanced monthly stipend
- Specialized support through group and individual meetings
- All the support and benefits already offered to any Youthville foster home