Kansas Childrens Service League

Early childhood education: in 1977, kcsl established its leadership as an expert in early childhood learning with the administration and management of head start in 10 western kansas counties (finney, grant, gray, haskell, kearny, seward, scott, stanton, stevens, and wichita). Our presence includes an array of early learning programs that includes head start, early head start, and kansas early head start. If kansans are to continue to prosper in the future, we need to make sure that all children have the opportunity to develop intellectually, socially, and emotionally. Current science emphasizes that brain development during the early years of life is particularly critical, creating the foundation upon which future growth depends. When young children experience prolonged stress, their early brain development is jeoparidized. However, early brain development thrives when parents, families, and communities nurture young children through loving care, interaction and stimulation. Kcsl head start and early head start provide comprehensive services in english, spanish and burmese to children and the families in these ten western kansas counties. Families with the highest risk are offered educational, social and emotional support to help them thrive. Currently, kcsl is servicing nearly 340 families within these comprehensive programs. Outcome measures demonstrate kcsl's quality in delivery of early learning services where we exceed program standards in all developmental goals and benchmarks for children.

Parent support: these programs which consist of crisis nursery, kinship navigator, circle of parents, fatherhood, parent leadership and 1-800-children build a statewide array of services that are aimed at preventing child abuse and supporting families. Crisis nursery and kinship offer case management for families and caregivers and connect them to resources neded to improve parent and child functioning. Circle of parents, fatherhood and parent leadership offer education, support and leadership opportunities to caregivers to increase family functioning, increase social connections and increase knowlede of parenting nurturing and attachment skills. These programs in 2024 worked with 909 families and 667 children. The 1-800-children program offers a 24/7 helpline that is a nonjudgemental support to assist families in finding resources anywhere in the 105 counties in kansas. There were 1,619 calls made to the helpline by kansas residents in 2024.

Other various programs including adoptive services, juvenile intake and case managment, outpatient mental health, prevention services, and pass-through services.