On June 2, KVC West Virginia held its Home. Hope. Heroes. event at the Culture Center in Charleston, West Virginia. The event brought together government officials, national foundations, and community organizations to focus on helping children and families, particularly through the state’s new Safe at Home West Virginia program. Learn more in this earlier announcement: Safe at Home West Virginia Program Inspires KVC’s Home. Hope. Heroes. Event.

KVC extends its gratitude to event sponsors including Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC; Highland Hospital; Thrasher; WOWK-TV and Brickstreet Insurance.

KVC also thanks the following guest speakers:

• Secretary Karen Bowling, West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, who stated that, “We must have a trauma-informed system of care.” Learn more about childhood adversity and trauma.
• Sandra Gasca-Gonzalez, Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative, who said, “Families are the best medicine to help children heal.”
• Brent Lemon, KVC West Virginia, who spoke about the nonprofit organization’s role in helping children and families in several regions of the state.

Entertainment was provided by pianist Barbara Nissman and fiddlers Adam DeGraff and Morgan Weidinger.

See photos from the event on our Facebook page:

KVC West Virginia is the state’s largest private provider of foster family care and also provides in-home behavioral healthcare and adoption. In 2015, the organization was selected to help children through the state’s new Safe At Home West Virginia program, an initiative of the state Department of Health and Human Resources’ Bureau for Children and Families.

Safe at Home’s aim is to maximize the benefits of home and community-based services for children in out-of-home care such as foster care, in conjunction with providing behavioral and mental health services, in order to reduce the use of congregate and out-of-state care. The program has successfully completed the initial development stage, and KVC West Virginia is now one of six organizations selected to expand the program into new areas of the state.

Learn more about KVC’s participation in Safe at Home West Virginia and how you can meaningfully help children and families affected by poverty, substance abuse, mental/behavioral health challenges, or trauma such as abuse or neglect. Together we can rally around these families and make sure that West Virginia children stay safe at home.