Our Child Safety Track Record

KVC Missouri is a private, nonprofit organization that strengthens families, prevents child abuse and neglect and helps people achieve mental health wellness. KVC Missouri is a subsidiary of KVC Health Systems. KVC’s family of nonprofit organizations offers one of the nation’s broadest continuums of care, from the least intensive services like family strengthening prevention and education, to the most intensive services like inpatient children’s mental health treatment.

Every KVC program and service measures child safety and wellbeing.

Nationally, KVC is:

• Exceeding all state and federal performance outcomes for child safety across programs: inpatient children’s mental health treatment, residential treatment and community-based programs like foster care and family strengthening prevention.
• Accredited by The Joint Commission, a gold seal for health care quality and patient safety.
• Trusted by state social services agencies in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Kentucky and West Virginia, and has provided consultation to child welfare agencies in Washington, D.C.; Hennepin Co, MN; Fairfax County, VA; Singapore and others (learn more).
• Recognized for the results of a five-year study with the Annie E. Casey Foundation and others showing that KVC’s trauma-informed care creates positive outcomes (learn more).

At the state and local level in Missouri:

KVC Missouri plays a significant role in the Missouri child welfare system by partnering with the Missouri Department of Social Services to provide foster care case management throughout every region in the state, currently caring for more than 1,200 youth. We’re also responsible for the recruitment, training and licensing of more than 1,100 relative and foster care providers throughout the state. 

What else makes us unique? We are experts in Treatment Foster Care, including training and licensing caregivers for youth who require a higher level of care.

In addition to regional campuses in St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield, Columbia and St. James, we provide mental health services, K-12 therapeutic education, children’s residential treatment, a large variety of grant-funded programs and more within an exceptional continuum of care. With the most comprehensive services in Missouri and our longtime legacy of caring and expertise, we drive unmatched results, with innovative trauma-informed therapies that help children and families heal. We envision a world where every person is safe and connected to a strong family and a healthy community. Learn more about KVC Missouri.

How and Where to Report Abuse

Thank you for taking the first step in protecting children. For emergencies, call your local law enforcement agency or 911.

We encourage you to report suspected abuse or neglect to the Missouri Department of Social Services at 1-800-392-3738 or learn more here.

Safeguards in Place

KVC Missouri has dozens of safety policies, procedures, protocols and other safeguards in place to protect children. These include:

• Background checks – We require all employees and volunteers to undergo background checks.
• Culture of safety – We create an agency-wide culture of safety through policies and procedures, as well as culture of employee engagement.
• Mandatory reporting – KVC employees are required to immediately report any allegations of child abuse or neglect.
• Third-party experts – We engage with third-party safety experts for training and best practices. We also have a risk management firm that conducts audits and maintains a third-party hotline to report any misconduct.
• Robust training – We train employees, foster families and other caregivers in areas like crisis intervention, de-escalation techniques, trauma-informed care and recognizing warning signs for aggressive behavior. We also have cameras in all our fleet vehicles to monitor driving safety and conduct regular car seat safety trainings and checks.
• National standards – We maintain both national and local policies and procedures for child protection.
• Incident reporting – Using both custom-built and third-party software, employees are able to immediately report critical incidents, automatically notifying leaders and our state partners. This streamlined process helps ensure fast communication, transparency and safety.
• Appropriate staffing – We ensure appropriate staff to youth ratios.
• External reporting – We constantly report on our performance and outcomes to our external partners including state agencies, Medicaid managed care organizations and private insurance companies.
• Medication safety – We manage youth medication to ensure client safety (learn more).

Resources for Parents, Guardians and Other Community Members

We’ve published many educational articles on how to prevent child abuse and neglect, and how to keep children safe. Learn more by exploring these articles.

Top Stories

Success Stories of Children and Families We Served

Each year, we help thousands of children, older youth and families find the safety, connection and support they need to thrive. Check out some of the people whose lives have been transformed with the help of KVC professionals.

Scarlett’s Reunification Story: A Journey of Love, Healing and Homecoming

Learn how foster parents Trent and Mindy Willhite opened their hearts to reunification and formed lifelong bonds with a child and her biological mother along the way.

Finding Success at KVC Academy: Dean’s Journey to a Bright Future

How Compassionate Advocacy in Foster Care Reunited a Family