Kansas Children's Service League Records

Restrictions: Due to its work with adoption cases, the League is required to comply with very technical federal privacy regulations by guarding against unauthorized illegal disclosures of information about individuals who have received the League's services at any during during its history. There are no case files in the records at the Historical Society, but photographs and negatives of children who cannot be identified or are identified as receiving services from the League are restricted.

Administrative History: The material contained in this collection reflect the history of child welfare in Kansas prior to the existence of child labor laws, and a state child welfare organization. The Kansas Children's Service League has its roots in two parent agencies: the Kansas Children's Home Society, founded in Topeka in 1893, and the Christian Service League, founded in 1906 in Wichita. Both agencies concentrated on finding permanent homes for orphaned or abandoned children and foster homes for children whose parents were temporatily unable to care for them. The two agencies merged in 1926.

These services were being provided prior to establishment of child labor laws in Kansas, Social Security, and Aid to Dependent Children (ADC). The newly combined agency continued its tradition of providing direct services to children and families and directing a strong child advocacy program. As a result of the merger, the name of the organization was changed to Kansas Children's Home and Service League. This was abbreviated in 1948 to the Kansas Children's Service League.

During the 1940s, '50s, and '60s the League's most visible work was infant adoption. By the 1970s societal changes lead to decreases in the number of babies placed for adoption. In response, the League developed a broader range of services to meet the changing needs of children and families. Among these services was Head Start. In 1993 the Kansas Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse merged with the League, bringing to the organization the Parent Helpline, parent support groups, and a statewide network of child abuse prevention affiliates. by the early 1990s a new prevention program, Healthy Families, was developed to support at-risk parents of newborns.

In 1996 Kansas became the first state in the nation to extensively privatize its child welfare services. KCSL joined this public/private partnership by providing family preservation and foster care in Region 3, an eighteen-county area including the cities of Topeka, Manhattan, and Salina, and as a subcontractor for adoption services.

The League is a charter member of the Child Welfare League of America and the statewide chapter of Prevent Child Abuse America.

Scope and content:
The records of the Kansas Children’s Service League and its parent organizations cover a time period from 1893 to 2003. These include the newsletters that are already on file with the Kansas State Historical Society. The newsletters of the Kansas Children’s Home Society and Children’s Service League describe society and government of the current time as well as information about the children needing homes. The importance of family homes over institutional care for raising children is stressed. The importance of the careful selection of a family for child and follow up support for the family was also stressed. The Kansas Children’s Home Society did not support the massive “out-placing” of children from the Eastern states through the “orphan trains.” Legislation was proposed by the Kansas Children’s Home Society and passed that required agencies outside of Kansas bringing children into the state for the purpose of placement to register with the secretary of state and pay an accompanying fee. Nearing the end of the orphan trains in 1931, Kansas Children’s Home and Service League took on the responsibility to re-place children whose placements had failed. The League provided temporary care for “war orphans” from other countries during World War II.

The collection gives readers a view of providing statewide child welfare services in a state 400 miles long and 210 miles wide when long distance transportation was by horse and buggy or train and long distance communication was by mail. The agency continued to find homes for children through the First World War, the Great Depression and World War II. A gasoline ration book from the Topeka office was located among the material saved. The constant thread that is woven throughout the history is that children grow best in family homes rather than in institutions.

As a pioneer of child welfare in Kansas, The League was represented at the First White House Conference On Children in 1909 and was a founding member of the Child Welfare League of America in 1920. Publication of the Kansas Children’s Home Finder began in 1898 by the Kansas Children’s Home Society and Service in 1914 by the Christian Service League. The merger of these two agencies in 1926 brought about a change in the name of the newsletter to Kansas Child Welfare. The League’s role in advocacy and expanded service areas such as Head Start are chronicled through the newsletters and board minutes.

The League has been broadly known within Kansas as an adoption agency due to the large number of infant adoptions in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s. Due to that time frame it is commonplace to run into an adult adoptee, one of their siblings or parents during any community event where staff are visibly identified with The League. The private adoption service that continues today is adoption search. It is available through the Wichita office. Information regarding eligibility and any fees for the service can be obtained by contacting the Wichita League office at 1-316-942-4261, specifying a request for information about adoption search.

The 1970s brought expansion in southwestern Kansas as The League developed home based Head Start, added center based Head Start and added Early Head Start in the late 1990s. The League also received grant funding in the 1970s to start a Black Adoption Project in the Kansas City area. That program was expanded with grant funding to preserve Black families and work with local middle schools on pregnancy prevention. Those programs continued over 20 years through the late 1990s.

The shortcoming of the collection is due to changes in technology that leave us unable to view the television public service announcements that are on outdated versions of cassettes and single film rolls. The other shortcoming is the gap in newsletters in the 1990s and the number of unidentified children, staff, board, and event photos.

Contents:
2005 addition (36 boxes)

Christian Service League: 1 box
Marketing
Bound Newsletters: 1908 – 1912; 1915 – 1918
Bound Annual Meeting Reports: 1909 – 1926
Audits: 1925, 1926
Adult Adoptee contacts in the news

Photos filed alphabetically: 5 boxes
Boxes 1 and 2: Restricted – photos of identified children (sorted by Kansas Children’s Home Society, Christian Service League, Kansas Children’s Home and Service League)
Box 3: KCSL: staff, board program specific includes: Black Adoption annual meetings and events, Red Stocking events, Maple Grove Cemetery
Box 4: KCSL: Includes events, the League annual meetings, Board and staff, photos used in brochures and newsletters
Box 5: Photos used in publications sorted by Kansas Children’s Home Society, Kansas Children’s Home and Service League, KCSL. Includes purchased photos used in publications

Scrapbooks: 7 boxes (15 scrapbooks) and 2 oversized Scrapbooks
Box 1: Kansas Children’s Home and Service League: Christmas Appeals, 1920s & ’30s; General Appeals letters, 1932–1939; News Clippings, 1930–33, 1933–41, 1937–38, 1941–54; Black Adoption Program News, 1973–1982.
Box 2: Kansas Children’s Home and Service League: Foster home scrapbook Restricted; guest book for open house at new Topeka office, 2053 S. Kansas
Box 3: KCSL: News clippings, 1954
Box 4: KCSL: News clippings, 1965–86
Box 5: KCSL: News clippings, 1965; 1968–69
Box 6: KCSL Black Adoption Program: News clippings, 1984–85; 1990–92
Box 7: Kansas Committee to Prevent Child Abuse: 1976–90: Brief history, special events, news clippings, brochures
2 Oversized scrapbooks: Black Adoption Project

Annual Reports Filed Chronologically: 1 box
Kansas Children’s Home Society Annual Reports: 1894, 1895, 1901 – 1926
Kansas Children’s Home Society Quarterly Reports: 1895, 1901, 1902, 1903
Kansas Children’s Homes and Service League Annual Reports: 1927–1937, 1943
Kansas Children’s Service League Annual Reports: 1966, 1969, 1971–76, 1978–1979, 1981–1995, 1997–2003

Historical: 7 boxes
Box 1: Kansas Children’s Home Society (filed numerically)
Oaths of office, county agreements, contracts with district superintendents, by-laws, copy of KCSH/CSL merger, bound newsletters, “Proceedings of Kansas Conference on Social Welfare:19th Annual Session”. (sample of contents)
Box 2: Kansas Children’s Home and Service League (filed alphabetically)
50th Anniversary/Golden Jubilee (1943); KCSL: Black Adoption Program information, centennial information, personnel, office policies and procedures, Maple Grove Cemetery, staff directory. (sample of contents)
Box 3: Kansas Children’s Home Society; Kansas Children’s Home and Service League
Wooden printing press blocks
Kansas Children’s Home and Service League
Metal photography plate negatives
Box 4: News Clippings (filed chronologically)
Kansas Children’s Home Society 1914 item in 1939 news 25 year ago column
Kansas Children’s Home and Service League 1939, 1940, 1947, 1948
KCSL 1949–2000
Box 5: News Clippings (filed chronologically)
KCSL 1992–1997
Box 6: Kansas Children’s Home and Service League: “The League Voice” internal newsletter, 1946–1948. KCSL: “KCSL Khronicles” internal newsletter 1996–98. Governor’s Conference on the Prevention of Child Abuse conference programs 1993–98, program brochures.(sample of contents)
Box 7: Other agency publications (filed chronologically by publication)
CWLA Bulletins 1935, 1938, 1939, 1942, 1943
“The child” 1939, 1940, 1943
“The Family Magazine” 1935, 1937, 1938, 1939
“The Family Journal of Social Casework” 1940–43, 1945–46
“Child Welfare Bibliography” 1944–45, 1946, 1947, 1948
“Kansas Directory of Services to Children”
“Directory of Statewide Kansas Associations” 1976
“Kansas Council for Children Take Stock” 1949
“Freud-Burlingham Reports: Foster Parents Plan For War Children” 1943–45
“Kansas State School for the Blind: 13th Biennial Report” June 30, 1936

Marketing: 11 boxes
Box 1: KCSL: printed version of PSAs, news releases to newspapers, radio and television media 1983–1987; Red Stocking appeal mailings and printed materials (tickets, posters, pamphlets, logo, etc.); Black Adoption press releases
Box 2: KCSL: printed materials 1982–1995, includes program brochures, posters, letterhead.
Box 3: KCSL: 35 mm. Slides and accompanying cassettes (where appropriate). Includes Topeka centennial slide show and cassette.
Box 4: KCSL: 16 mm. Film and sound, “Three to Make Ready”. Film made for the League to market adoption services.
Box 5: KCSL: Video PSAs include Black Males Symposium, Black Adoption Forum and Festival 1989, centennial.
Box 6: KCSL: Video PSAs include Mediation, Red Stocking, Pregnancy Counseling, Child Abuse Prevention
Box 7: KCSL: Video PSAs include Head Start graduation, Wichita building renovation, Black Adoption, Flint Hills advisory council, Topeka United Way video featuring the League’s emergency shelter, respite care
Box 8: KCSL: Radio PSAs 1971, 1979, 1981, 1984, 1986, 1990, 1993
Box 9: KCSL: Video PSAs include volunteer recruitment, youth crisis service, Emporia Red Stocking
Box 10: KCSL: Video PSAs include Mediation, “If Ever You Should Need Us”, “Birthday Wish”, “Our Concern”, “Birthday Party”, “Our children Our Future”
Box 11: KCSL: Video Master copies; include foster home recruitment with George Brett and Judge Morrison, Respite Care, “Jars One”, Advocacy, Volunteers, “Worm Race”, centennial, 1992 merger coverage, 1993 “County Fair for Families”

Correspondence Filed numerically by agency: 1 box
Kansas Children’s Home Society
Kansas Children’s Home and Service League
Kansas Children’s Service League

Annual Board Minutes (bound journals and binders): 3 boxes and 8 binders
Box 1: Kansas Children’s Home Society, 1893–1926
Kansas Children’s Home and Service League, 1927–1948
KCSL, 1948–1958
Box 2: KCSL, 1959–1973
Box 3: KCSL, 1974–1985
Binder 1: KCSL, 1987–88 Board Minutes
Binder 2: KCSL 1988 Executive Board and Finance Committee Minutes
Binder 3: KCSL 1988 – 90 Board Minutes
Binder 4: KCSL 1989 Executive Board and Finance Committee Minutes
Binder 5: KCSL 1990 – 91 Board Minutes
Binder 6: KCSL 1990 Executive Board and Finance Committee Minutes
Binder 7: KCSL 1991 Executive Board and Finance Committee Minutes
Binder 8: KCSL 1992 Executive Board and Finance Committee Minutes

Collection processed and finding aid written by Penny Fry, Kansas Children’s Service League, 2005, with the assistance of a Kansas Humanities Council Heritage Grant.

Contents:
1999 addition (11 boxes)
Box 1 (1992-1997):
Misc. paperwork from June 1997
1992 pledges
-Wichita
-Topeka
Prospect Review – Flint Hills
Civic Organizations
Donor Prospects
Correspondence
Leavenworth Golf Tournament
Topeka Special Events
Wichita Special Events
Flint Hills Special Events
Emporia Special Events
Kansas City Special Events
Special Events, Historical Data
Topeka Civic Organization Supporters
Prevention Services
Program Ideas, Info.

Box 2 (1990s)
Program Statistics
Public Relations Activities
Community Resource Files (Alphabetical)
-Alcoholics Anonymous to Stormont Vail Adolescent Unit

Box 3
Community Resource Files (continued from Box 3)
-St. Johns Hospital to YWCA
Community Corrections Juvenile Committee
SODP Monthly Statistical Reports (1980-1981)
I & R’s – Status Offender Project Statistics Worksheets (1981)
1979 Grant
Go 4th (1983-1993)
Correspondence? (1930s/1940s)

Box 4
Clipping Scrapbooks:
Montgomery County Clippings (1950s/60s)
Misc. Clippings (1960s)
Misc. Clippings (January 1951 to December 1953)
Membership book? (1890s) – indexed
Membership book? (1900s)

Box 5
Account book (1965)
Account book (July 1945-June 1946)
Account book (January 1909-October 1910)
Children’s Case Record (1910-1915)
Account Book/Expenditure Book (1915-1916)
Record book (names) (1880s)
Record book (towns) (1910-1912)
Record book (names) (1893-1911)
Record booklet (names) – no date

Box 6
Misc. photos (1990s?)
Misc. photo album (1990s?)
“Special events” photo album (1991-1993)

Box 7
Misc. correspondence (1920s-1930s)
Journal entries? (1980s)
Misc. correspondence (1990)

Box 8
Financial statements (1930s-1940s)
Pension Plans (1960s)
“Black Market Babies” clippings (August 1955)

Box 9 (1990s)
Red Stocking (1991, 1993, 1994)
Cultivation – Major Donors – Luncheon Info.
Public Relations
Nominating
UW Development

Box 10
Accreditation
Advocacy
Budget
Annual Reports
Children’s Fund
Children’s Home Society of CA
Department of Education Grant
Discretionary Income Committee
Early Head Start
Early Parenting Program
Fact Sheets
Foster Care Recruitment
Fund Descriptions

Box 11
Clippings (1955)
Account books (names) (January 1964-December 1964)
Account books (names) (1963)
Receipts/Expenditure book (1912-1915)
Cash books (1902-1912)
Ledger/Cash book (1913-1915)
Ledger/Cash book (1905-1908)
Ledger/Cash book (1893-1896)

On top of Box 11
Clipping Scrapbooks:
June 1955
March 1952

Associated materials: Photographs are shelved separately.

Restrictions: Due to its work with adoption cases, the League is required to comply with very technical federal privacy regulations by guarding against unauthorized illegal disclosures of information about individuals who have received the League's services at any during during its history. There are no case files in the records at the Historical Society, but photographs and negatives of children who cannot be identified or are identified as receiving services from the League are restricted.