Children in need of a family of their own have found good friends in the Kansas Association of Broadcasters (KAB). The KAB has, in effect, ‘adopted’ the Kansas Adoption Network.

Over the past two years, the KAB has produced a series of public service announcements (PSAs) that have done much to spread the word to prospective adoptive families across the state that children in state custody need homes. And now the KAB is moving forward with several new projects -- all with a goal of connecting Kansas families with children in state custody and foster care who need of a family of their own.

"The behind-the-scenes assistance Kansas broadcasters has offered has helped immensely," said Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services Secretary Rochelle Chronister. "They recognized that they could play a tremendously important role in the lives of children who through no fault of their own have been placed in state custody."

Children in state custody who are eligible for adoption have had parental rights terminated by the courts because of abuse, neglect or abandonment.

The KAB’s assistance began in late 1996, just after the state privatized the adoption program. It was during a KAB convention that the association became "hooked" into working for Kansas children in foster care, according to President and Executive Director Harriet Lange. She said a convention visit from Wichita advocate and adoptive parent Linda Weir-Energren was the catalyst.

"She brought home the fact that these kids need permanent homes, and sometimes they are shifted back and forth in the system," Lange said. "She just told the story of these kids needing home. We were able to spread the word."

Spread the word they did.

With the assistance of member stations, the KAB began in late 1996 producing and distributing to member stations 30- and 60-second public service announcements (PSAs) seeking families for Kansas children in foster care. In the 16 months of PSA production through March, 1998, the dollar value of the KAB’s spots have provided a total dollar value of more than $267,000 in television and radio time.

By the end of June, the KAB will create a new radio feature called the KAB Kid of the Month. This will include two two-minute segments on two different foster children or foster sibling groups. Included in the package going to radio stations will be biographies and photographs of the featured children and information regarding the children’s social worker who will provide updates on the child’s progress and interviews.

To produce the new radio feature, the KAB is teaming up with Kansas Families for Kids (KFFK), the organization that helps run the Kansas Adoption Network as a subcontractor of Lutheran Social Service of Kansas and Oklahoma, the statewide adoption contractor.

In addition, the KAB Board of Directors has agreed to sponsor a reunion camp for 100 Kansas children with a goal of bringing together brothers and sisters who have been separated due to adoption or foster care. The reunion, which is also being done with the assistance of KFFK, will take place at the Salvation Army’s Camp Hiawatha in Wichita from July 27th through August 1.

The reunion camp will provide a fun week of recreational activities for the children, while also dealing with their feelings of grief and loss. The camp will include follow-up activities to make sure sibling groups are able to continue to communicate with one another.

The KAB also is developing another project to support the Kansas Adoption Network. Team Day 1999 is scheduled for January 8, 1999. It will bring television and radio stations in Kansas together to raise money for the adoption network. Each television and radio station will be asked to promote Team Day 1999 by asking businesses in their coverage area to allow employees to wear sweatshirts and/or t-shirts to work with their favorite team’s logo on that day. Employees will be asked to donate $5 to participate in the event. All money raised will go to the adoption network.

David Scott, executive director of KFFK, said the broadcasters association has helped the state develop a clear and consistent message about the need for Kansas families to make their "hearts and homes" available to children in need.

"This effort, hopefully, will continue to have a long-term impact," he said. "We need to continue to get the message out that we need your help. That this is something that only families can do for kids."

Ms. Weir-Energren, a Wichita businesswoman, and her husband have adopted seven children who were in state custody. She said her goal has always been to help others see the foster care system though the eyes of a child caught in that system.

"I try to help other people understand what this feels like to a child," she said. "And to see why it’s so important to get the system changed."

She said children caught in this system are not welfare’s children, they are nobody’s children.

"And if they are nobody’s children, they become the responsibility of all of us," she said. "And their lives are changed forever when we take responsibility."

Page Last Updated: May 29, 2001