Episode 5: Joy Meadows

On this episode of Uncovering Kansas, we talk to Sarah about foster care and her plan for Joy Meadows. We think that you'll learn a lot about the state of foster care in Kansas and find that another innovative Kansan has come up with a great idea to help improve the system. (Note: this is an abridged version of the interview because we had such a great conversation!) The foster care system in Kansas is facing some pretty big challenges. With about 7,600 children in foster care in Kansas, there are only about 2,700 approved foster families. This means that a lot of foster children are sleeping in a different location every night, or in the foster care offices on couches or cots. Sarah Oberndorfer has come up with a plan to help address this issue by creating a community of foster homes in Basehor Kansas, called Joy Meadows. By creating a neighborhood where all of the homes are foster families, there is a built-in support structure that will reduce foster family burnout, increase capacity for foster children, and ensure more siblings get to stay together. In addition, the neighborhood will have a community center that will allow social services to come to the families, reducing the amount of time spent driving to and from appointments. On this episode of Uncovering Kansas, we talk to Sarah about foster care and her plan for Joy Meadows. We think that you'll learn a lot about the state of foster care in Kansas and find that another innovative Kansan has come up with a great idea to help improve the system.    Joy Meadows website