KVC Health Systems

An on going struggle for Nebraska families with children requiring mental health care is locating qualified treatment and finding ways to pay for the services. In an effort to address this struggle, Nebraska’s Department of Health and Human Services recently ‘privatized’ behavioral health care for children’s services by awarding contracts for comprehensive care to five lead agency providers.   Three of the lead agencies have since terminated their contract with DHHS; the two remaining are Boys Town and KVC Health Systems. Priorities of these lead agencies include providing a single resource responsible for that family’s care, then coordinating recovery services and reunification for the family through that lead agency.

KVC Health Systems, based in Olathe, Kan., recently celebrated its first anniversary as a lead agency in Nebraska at a luncheon for community members during which we were reminded that Nebraska still has the highest number of state wards per capita. The KVC mission is 1) family preservation; working with the family to find the services the family sees as important in keeping the family safe, healthy, and together, 2) striving toward permanency; reuniting families as quickly and safely as possible, and 3) after care, so that for 12 months after reunification support is there as the family builds self sufficiency and becomes less dependent upon “the system”. 

Benefits include helping more children remain safely at home, helping families identify their own natural resources, and streamlining care so that more children are leaving the system each year than are entering. KVC has a staff of more than 500 support personnel serving approximately 19 counties in Nebraska. To learn more about KVC’s services, visit http://www.kvc.org/nebraska/about-kvc-nebraska.