Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Volunteer Host Model topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Safe Families Kansas describes volunteer-host model, reports 60 host families and 85% retention; says funding includes state SGF support
Summary
Safe Families Kansas presented examples of volunteers hosting children temporarily to help families in crisis, described regional expansion and said it has about 60 host families in the state with roughly an 85% retention rate. The presenter described partnerships with DCF and hospitals and said the organization
A representative of Safe Families Kansas described the nonprofit’s volunteer-host model to the Child Welfare and Foster Care Committee, highlighted several individual cases and provided operating and scale figures, including about 60 host families in Kansas and an 85 percent retention rate among hosts.
"Our mission is to host and create extended like family supports for vulnerable families through a community of devoted volunteers who are motivated to keep children safe and families intact," the presenter, identified in the meeting as Tammy of Safe Families Kansas, told the committee.
Tammy said Safe Families recruits volunteers through local churches and assigns three roles — host families, family friends and resource friends — to provide short-term care, material support and sustained relational engagement. She emphasized that the program seeks to engage families before DCF becomes involved, offering examples that included:
- Hosting a drug-exposed newborn for several months while the mother engaged in services; the volunteer who initially hosted the baby later became a staff member and continued to support the mother. - Hosting three children for 22 nights while a single mother focused on securing housing, mental-health services and state identification. - Coordinating care when a mother was incarcerated and enabling volunteers to bring expressed breast milk to a child so the infant could receive maternal milk until reunification; that episode involved 52 nights of arrangement.
Tammy said Safe Families runs background checks, conducts home walk-throughs and provides weekly staff check-ins for new host families. In the meeting she reported roughly 60 host families in Kansas and an 85 percent retention rate; she said the organization’s operating funds include state general funds and occasional private support. "Our funding stream is through the legislature, SGF funds," she said when asked.
Committee members asked about host-family numbers, retention and what happens when reunification is not possible. Tammy said when a parent does not progress toward reunification, custody returns to DCF and the child may enter foster care; Safe Families is positioned primarily as a prevention and supportive mechanism.
Safe Families described geographic expansion plans, naming regions served in Kansas City, Southeast Kansas and Wichita and an upcoming Central North region expected to start April 1. The presentation did not result in committee action.
