Our Founding

The Children's Home is Wichita's oldest charitable institution. It was founded in August, 1888, as the city's first orphanage for the "support and care of destitute and homeless children."

The Wichita Children's Home offers the only emergency, temporary residential center for children in Sedgwick County.

Our Mission

To assure the safety and well-being of children and to create health families by providing:

• Assessment and Intervention Services;
• A temporary home for children at risk of abuse, neglect or homelessness; and
• Education, Prevention, and Advocacy Initiatives.

Who We Serve

The Wichita Children's Home cares for victims of abuse, abandonment, and neglect, as well as runaways, children facing family crisis, or children who may be at risk in their homes. Children and youth from one day to 21 years of age and their families, receive assistance from across the state of Kansas through the following programs/locations:

• Emergency Care - Our residential center for children located at 810 N. Holyoke, and resource homes are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to care for children in crisis.
• Foster Care - Special families in the community, trained and supervised by the Children's Home, care for children under the age of 6 who are best served by one or two primary caregivers. Foster homes also enable us to assist even more children in need, by supplying additional secure, caring sites, beyond the Home's often capacity-filled residential center.
• Street Outreach - Outreach counselors work from specially stocked vans, operating on scheduled routes in Wichita with the goal helping youth get off the street and/or receive needed services.
• BRIDGES - a transitional living program for young people 16½ thru 23 years of age who must live on their own.
• Child Access - The Home provides trained staff to supervise visits of non-residential parents with their children and a safe, neutral ground for the exchange of children between their parents for other visits.
• Families KAN Project - The focus of this program is to provide services which keep children safe and prevent them from out-of-home placement. Referrals can be made from a variety of family oriented community services located in Sedgwick County. Families can make voluntary referrals for non-abuse/non-neglect cases by calling the Intake Department at the Wichita Children's Home at (316) 684-6581. Referrals are also accepted from Social and Rehabilitation Services (SRS), Juvenile Court, and for children who are in Police Protective Custody.

Services We Provide

Services provided for children and their families are comprehensive and outcome oriented and include round-the-clock victim counseling; drug/alcohol abuse education, prevention and counseling; medical care; case management; behavior modification; crisis intervention; family mediation; parent education; peer counseling; life skills training and assistance in preparing for and obtaining employment; and street outreach to homeless and at-risk youth. Click here for a complete listing of provided services.

Visitation and Phone Calls

Visitation is considered an important part of a child’s experience at the Children’s Home. To ensure adequate arrangements are made we request that you schedule your visits and phone calls around the following schedule. All supervised visits must be scheduled 24 hours in advance with a supervisor or case manager. Click here for a complete listing of visitation hours.

Contact Us

Feel free to contact us with your questions and concerns here.

Numbers Cared For in Fiscal Year 2007