Youthville is a nonprofit child welfare agency in

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

involved in Foster Care,

Adoption Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person's biological or legal parent or parents. Legal adoptions permanently transfer all rights and responsibilities, along with filiation, from ...

Residential Treatment A residential treatment center (RTC), sometimes called a rehab, is a live-in health care facility providing therapy for substance use disorders, mental illness, or other behavioral problems. Residential treatment may be considered the "last-di ...

Counseling Counseling is the professional guidance of the individual by utilizing psychological methods especially in collecting case history data, using various techniques of the personal interview, and testing interests and aptitudes. This is a list of co ...

and

Therapy A therapy or medical treatment (often abbreviated tx, Tx, or Tx) is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a medical diagnosis. As a rule, each therapy has indications and contraindications. There are many different ...

. The agency was founded in the early 1920s as an outreach of the

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelical ...

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.

History

In the early 1920s, Edward P. Libbey left the bulk of his estate to the United Methodist Church's Youthville project. The City of

Newton, Kansas Newton is a city in and the county seat of Harvey County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 18,602. Newton is located north of Wichita. The city of North Newton is located immediately north and e ...

, led additional fundraising efforts. The new funds enabled of land to be purchased for an

orphanage An orphanage is a Residential education, residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the Childcare, care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parent ...

, which then 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 took over the Bronco Buster Boys Ranch in Dodge City, Kansas. Youthville then planted offices across the state. In 1996, Kansas became the first state in the nation to fully privatize its adoption, foster care, and family preservation services. Youthville has maintained the state's Region 5 foster care / reintegration contract since the inception of privatization by Kansas' Social and Rehabilitation Services ( Child Protection Services) in 1996. From 2001 through 2003, Youthville went through voluntary chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. In early 2007, the Wichita Branch

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

and Youthville held the first of a series of meetings to discuss the possibilities and options available for increasing the number of extended family and/or culturally compatible placements. According to the NAACP, "Of the 356 African American children from Sedgwick County, 47% are sent outside of the county to foster homes in more rural areas of Kansas, most often not of the same cultural background. And of the 147 Bi-Racial children from Sedgwick County, 31% are sent outside of the county to foster homes in more rural areas of Kansas, most often not of the same cultural background." The organization acquired Family Consultation Service in July 2007, which employs over 20 therapists and offers psychiatric services and medication management. In August 2008, Youthville's Trauma Recovery Center in Wichita, Kansas adopted Dr. Bruce Perry's Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics as its official clinical framework.

Expressive Arts Program

Youthville's therapeutic Expressive Arts Program involves, among other activities, a unique traveling art exhibit called Walk-A-Mile consisting of shoes that the children of Youthville's Expressive Arts Program have designed and decorated to tell the story of their life in the child welfare system. Other artworks by Youthville children have been on display in various locations throughout Kansas. The Expressive Arts Center also presents an annual summer Chalk Art Festival in Newton, Kansas. As a part of this festival, professional artists auction their works to raise money for Youthville.Youthville’s Chalk Art Festival
- Newton Kansas, June 8, 2010

References

External links

Youthville's Official Website

Kansas' Social and Rehabilitation Services
{{DEFAULTSORT:Youthville Child welfare in the United States Charities based in Kansas Youth organizations based in Kansas Child abuse-related organizations Domestic violence-related organizations in the United States Organizations for orphaned and abandoned children Foster care organizations