Book Shares Insights Culled From an Inspiring Career Serving Children and Families

For 35 years, Wayne Sims served at the helm of KVC Health Sys­tems, a non­prof­it com­mit­ted to enrich­ing and enhanc­ing the lives of chil­dren and fam­i­lies by pro­vid­ing med­ical and behav­ioral health care, social ser­vices, and education.

Dur­ing his time as CEO, Sims grew KVC from a group home for five at-risk chil­dren to a com­pre­hen­sive orga­ni­za­tion work­ing in 35 loca­tions across the coun­try and serv­ing more than 60,000 chil­dren and fam­i­lies each year.

This jour­ney — and the many lessons Sims learned through­out KVC’s trans­for­ma­tion — are detailed in his new book, Non-Prof­it/Pro-Growth: The KVC Sto­ry.

The Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion shares KVC’s data-fueled per­spec­tive that chil­dren grow best in fam­i­lies, and the two orga­ni­za­tions have worked togeth­er to exam­ine the impor­tance of child wel­fare sys­tems embrac­ing trau­ma-informed care.

Not sur­pris­ing­ly, Sims recruit­ed the Foundation’s pres­i­dent and CEO, Patrick McCarthy, to share his take on Non-Prof­it/Pro-Growth: The KVC Sto­ry. ​“Every­one work­ing to improve care for chil­dren, from front­line staff to super­vi­sors to agency direc­tors to pol­i­cy­mak­ers, should read and then re-read this book,” says McCarthy, who describes the pub­li­ca­tion as ​“a com­pelling, high­ly read­able and prac­ti­cal guide for any­one work­ing to change how human ser­vices are delivered.”

Learn more about Casey’s work with KVC on trau­ma-informed care