This article is part of an ongoing series to chronicle the work of the 30 organizations involved in KHF’s Building Power and Equity Partnership (BPEP) initiative. To learn more about BPEP, click here.

American families face mounting challenges. The cost of healthcare and childcare, aging and ailing grandparents, financial pressures, divorce, and myriad other concerns can make raising children seem impossible under the best of circumstances. Add poverty, domestic violence, substance abuse, hunger, homelessness — sometimes all at once, and for some families it’s hard to fathom where even to begin climbing a mountain of seemingly endless troubles.

When resources seem out of reach, Kansas Family Advisory Network, a member of Kansas Health Foundation’s Building Power and Equity Partnership, is available to help families, judgment free. Established in 2007 as Kansas Family Advocacy Network, the organization provides case management and advocacy services to help parents, caregivers, and families understand and navigate the legal system in a variety of circumstances, such as when children are in foster care.

Minister Nina Shaw-Woody, executive director of KFAN, and other members of her team serve as allies to parents, going with them to court, providing emotional support, and calling meetings with child placement agencies and child welfare management providers.

“It’s truly needed,” Shaw-Woody said. “If you have ever gone to court with a family, it is nerve-wracking. You have the judge, the district attorney, the child’s attorney, and then the parents and the parents’ attorney over there. Everybody talks about you, and all you hear is that negativity. Your anxiety is through the roof. It’s tough to focus. We’re there to listen, to support, and to let them know what is expected of them when they leave the courtroom.”

Important Work

A nondenominational minister, Shaw-Woody joined the team at KFAN in 2015 and was driven by a need to provide comfort, service, and support to families who need it. Having worked in the Kansas child welfare system for 22 years, she is devoted to helping families who are struggling to stay together, and sometimes to meet even the most basic of needs.

“There was little representation for families in Kansas at that time,” Shaw-Woody said. “I was and am grateful for the opportunity to help them have that voice. KFAN was originally designed specifically to be a family advocacy voice — to help families and learn from them based on what they experience with the child welfare system. This is important work, because it helps in the present while it gives families a voice in improving the system.”

“KFAN’s strength lies in their ability to go beyond providing resources and training. When needed, KFAN shows up in the courtroom with parents/caregivers to offer support and guidance,” said Valerie Black-Turner, director of community partnerships at Kansas Health Foundation. “They work at the statewide level in partnership with University of Kansas by creating, implementing, and managing parent surveys. Results from the survey allow Kansas leadership to hear from parents and caregivers regarding available services and their needs. KFAN uses this information to evaluate if they are meeting needs that participants have identified.”

As Minister Nina, as her clients call her, got to know them better, she became more and more aware of their needs that were not being met. The good work she and the KFAN team did shined a light on how vulnerable families are, and the many ways they lack support in their lives. She realized that families are at a disadvantage for many reasons, beyond court systems that are challenging to navigate.

“I was helping improve the child welfare system by sitting down with these focus groups to learn more about their experiences, and that was good,” she said. “They are telling me about their problems and worries and what’s going on, and then I’m at the end of day, I’m like — okay, bye, see you later. That bothered me, because when they left, they were in the same state as when they came in. I just took their story from them and left them as they were: troubled. I needed to help.”

Determined to take action of some kind, she observed those around her and talked to her clients to see what they needed the most. She remembered being in need and receiving “blessings beyond measure” from people who offered her kindness without judgment at tough times in her life when she was trying to finish her education or raise her little ones as a single mother. “I know about struggles — been there, done that — and if it wasn’t for the people in my life who came forward to help me, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”

Shaw-Woody reached higher and dreamed bigger for the sake of her clients — for the sake of Kansas families — and she created a vision that she and the KFAN team work toward every day.

“Our hope at KFAN is that we can restore the family unit,” said Shaw-Woody. “We want to bring healing and wholeness to the family, because there are so many things that can stand in the way of a family being successful in their own right. So, we provide support, education, advocacy, training, and spiritual guidance — what we call S.E.A.T.S. — because we hope that families allow us to have a seat at their table. ”

Support: Food, Clothing, and Mental Health Care

Supporting clients by providing resources to families that encompass the whole person is fundamental to KFAN’s family ministry — from therapy services and group sessions to access to clothing, food and hygiene products. The Juanita Alexander Food Pantry offers staples at no cost to those who need to put a little food on the table or pick up some paper products or toothpaste. A visit to Sharing His Love Closet reveals racks and racks of clothing for adults and kids, free to those who need them.

These “shops” are just off KFAN’s main lobby area, past a line of friendly staff at desks, beyond the Living Room with comfy couches and chairs. This cozy area is a meeting place for Bible study groups, social gatherings, and friends who drop by just for a visit.

Accessible therapy services are available at KFAN, whether a family or individual is working through a death or break-up, facing a mental health crisis, or just needs to talk about their feelings and concerns.

In 2014, KFAN client Cierra Dozier had just given birth to her first child.

“I was a young mother,” she said. “I really didn’t know what to do. My parents were dead and gone. An abuse situation got started and I ended up going through a custody battle with the state. They were trying to prove that I was unfit. You go through all these hoops and hurdles to show there is no possibility that you could be the person that did this. One of the things they wanted me to do was therapy.

“At KFAN, I found more than just a therapist. Miss Nina brought things out of me I never thought would be possible. I was such an introvert. She showed me that there’s more to life than just being at home. It’s okay to explore and be social. I’ve overcome a lot of my trauma that I went through in childhood. Even as an adult, I’ve been able to reflect on that and instill some of the stuff that I’ve learned into my kids because of KFAN.”

Dozier, now 30 and mother to five girls and one boy, never imagined she would seek therapy, and was even more surprised to gain so much from it. It continues to be an important tool in her self-care toolbox.

“I was going through the hardest time in my marriage. The thing I looked forward to most, beside my children, was going to KFAN and talking about my feelings, having that listening ear and not having to worry about somebody judging me. I feel like everything I have been wanting to say is finally out there in the open, and I have this big weight off my shoulders. Miss Nina has really helped me turn around and get where I am today. I am more than grateful.”

As a survivor of domestic abuse, Dozier is working to overcome extreme introversion and trauma, resulting in anxiety when she is around large groups of people, a “fear of somebody doing something to me and my children,” she said.

“One of the counselors will come to my home and do a group with my kids, and me. Sometimes it’s hard for me to go to the building. They come to my home with no type of judgment. I may be going through something or at the top of my game. They make it possible for me to continue therapy and for my kids to see a healthy relationship, and not only with me. They see you can actually trust people. You have people other than mommy, who will listen to you and maybe can see something Mommy doesn’t see.”

Education: Classes to Help Strengthen Families

“We believe every family deserves the chance to be empowered with knowledge and the tools they need to succeed,” Shaw-Woody said. “Families have rights, and we want them to be able to access them.”

To serve this need, KFAN offers family-focused education and support programs, including Kansas Kinship Navigation, the Birth Family Support Program, and Men of Valor Fatherhood Program. The KFAN team also offers popular parenting classes for all kinds of parents: step, foster, relative, adoptive, and birth (married or not). Subjects like Trust-Based Relational Intervention, Healthy Relationship Training, and Choices are available to help parents communicate better, learn to establish boundaries, and build positive behaviors to share with their children.

“KFAN’s ability to restore families while also providing for their basic necessities is special.” Black-Turner said. “They are able to build trust with parents and caregivers, provide training that is relevant to strengthen parenting and caregiving skills while also meeting court requirements. They also offer support groups for families who have had personal experience with the Kansas child welfare system giving families the opportunity to provide input so that KFAN can further develop their programs, policies and practices.”

Advocacy: A Respectful Helping Hand

Serving parents as advocates remains one of the most important resources KFAN provides. Pamela Bell was referred to KFAN by a therapist who was treating her son.

“KewaunJ has autism, and I had to make the difficult decision to place him in foster care,” Bell said. The mother of eight children — all of whom are on the autism spectrum and one who also has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy — reached out for guidance from KFAN. “Nina was at my side at court, teaching me what to expect and helping me advocate for myself when it comes to my son.”

As Bell’s family’s needs grew, she found she was able to count on Shaw-Woody and KFAN to assist in other ways, such as meals when the family was homeless, and gifts for the children.

“This isn’t just about someone who was assigned to help me and my son. It evolved into many opportunities for the whole family. Nina and KFAN made it their mission to focus on my family as a whole and help us to stay together.”

Bell is especially grateful for the respect she always receives at KFAN.

“I was a product of the (foster care) system. I spent 14 and a half years there, in more than 100 different places. In my experience, they treat you differently when they think they are in a better position than you. When you have a family like mine that’s already in a vulnerable position, and they treat you that way, it’s frustrating. Everybody is a human, and everybody deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. I feel that respect at KFAN from Nina and everybody.”

Training: Gaining Independence

At KFAN, training can come in many forms. It can be more structured, such as the parenting classes they offer. It can come in the form of a workshop. Often, however, training is one-on-one, with KFAN staff taking the time to walk a client through a process they aren’t familiar with or give tips to assist with baffling technology. The team is familiar with the many forms, websites, offices, and details that are part of the social services system, and that knowledge is one of the most valuable things they regularly share.

“Imagine not knowing how to use a computer in the most basic way,” Shaw-Woody said. “Now imagine needing to locate and fill out a complicated government form with instructions you don’t understand. Then remember: Your family staying together depends on you doing this right. We take some of the pressure off by teaching them how to do these things so they can eventually handle it themselves. There are community partners that are out there for them. We help them connect to those partners.”

Spiritual Guidance: ‘God is not discriminatory, and neither are we’

A woman of God, Shaw-Woody believes in the power of prayer and the strength faith gives her. She encourages clients to embrace their spiritual journey as a vital part of caring for the whole.

“We have a woman who comes in to do Bible study with staff. She prays for them and encourages them. We decided to do it at a time when our resource closet and food pantry is open. People will come in while they wait and listen to the discussion, start participating and ask questions. We don’t require anyone to attend, of course. God is not discriminatory, and neither are we. But you can see that people long to have that spiritual need filled, too. A man brought his grown son to pick out some clothes for an interview. They also got prayer, because it was a Friday, and they said it was a blessing to them.”

In addition to being an ordained minister, Shaw-Woody holds a Master of Social Work from Newman University and bachelor’s in organizational management and leadership from Friends University. She also served as a combat medic in the Army and acknowledges that she was “called” to be a social worker just as much as she was called to be a minister of the gospel.

“I know I was created to love,” she said. “Mother Teresa, because she loved people, was in the trenches with them. No matter the course, you’re there to help them. It’s not about you. It’s about: ‘How can I be a blessing?’ I will always be there for others, because somebody did it for me.” Her whole life has been about social service, she says, which she learned from example in childhood from her generous and loving parents.

A Powerful Validation

“When we received the invitation to join in a partnership with the KHF, I thought, ‘We’ve finally got somebody who believes in what we do! We’re not crazy!’” Shaw-Woody said. “There’s so much that we do and need. We didn’t even realize the extent of it all. They’re helping us go to the next level to fulfill dreams we didn’t even know were possible. To know that somebody cares enough to be willing to invest the resources to help you be self-sustaining. That is a powerful validation. That is the answer to my prayers.”

The KHF partnership also connected KFAN with catchafire.org, an online platform that connects nonprofits with volunteers who offer their skills. The organization’s website, www.kfan.org, is being built with the help of volunteers, and the KFAN team is seeking volunteers who can help them make more dreams come true, including their own YouTube channel with educational videos.

Quick to point out that she doesn’t do it alone, Shaw-Woody regularly praises the KFAN team, their generosity, patience, and kindness. In Coffeyville, Lead Family Engagement Supervisor LaKisha Johnson provides services alongside her team members Family Resource Center Administrator Blanca Lopez and Fatherhood Coordinator Jesse Moley to families in southeast Kansas. Dodge City Family Engagement Supervisor Luis Villavalverde and his team members — Family Resource Center Administrator Laura Chavez-Delgado, Fatherhood Coordinator Min. Conway Woody, Senior Community Service Employment Program staff Cecilia Holguin, and Certified Peer Specialists Eduardo Garcia and Michael Yepes — serve families in southwest Kansas. At the main KFAN office in Wichita, Family Engagement Supervisor Deneice Flemming and her team members Drenda Canidy; Senior Community Service Employment Program staff Ahmed Khodeir, Bruce Kinney, and Cynthia Muhammad; and Certified Peer Specialists Patrice Campbell, and Rosemary Erwin are ready to assist families in that city and the surrounding area.

“I’m grateful we have been able to grow the areas we serve, and who we serve, too,” said Shaw-Woody. “Each of these amazing people came onboard, stuck in there with me, and have been a blessing. We are planning ahead to grow even stronger, move to an even larger space, expand the resources we offer, and put more staff in place.”

Shaw-Woody and her husband, Conway Woody, are the proud parents of eight children, 19 grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. She credits KFAN and its ministry for her own family’s growth and stability. Every day she learns lessons from clients that apply to her own life, and without fail, her faith sustains her.

“In my prayers, I say, ‘God, I know as I take care of your children, whether they know they’re your children or not doesn’t matter. As long as I take care of your children, I know you will take care of mine. You care for my grown children, my grandchildren, my great-grandchild. Thank you for supporting me and mine as I care for others. May I bless, and all I touch bless those around them as well.’”

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For more information about the Kansas Family Advisory Network, visit www.kfan.org. Reach KFAN at (316) 264-2400, toll-free at (800) 969-5764 or by email at information@kfaninc.net.