The Wichita Children’s Home was founded in 1888. It is still in operation as a emergency care center for children in the Sedgwick County area. Their website is at wch.org.

MHGS holds the admission records of the Wichita Children’s Home through the mid-2000s.  The contents of these records varies a lot.   All files contain basic information about the child and family and details about the circumstances of admission. During the early years of the home, some children lived there for longer periods of time, and the records may also include information about parental visits, school attendance, and daily activities.  More recently, the home has been an emergency crisis center, and the records are much more limited.

In accordance with our agreement with WCH, we restrict access to these records to residents and their descendants and legal representatives.  If you would like to request access, please use this form .

Note — The Wichita Children’s Home has never been the only children’s home in Wichita!  For example, in 1908, there were the St. Joseph’s Orphanage, the Kansas Masonic Home, and the Helen Gould Home.  In 1920, the Phyllis Wheatley Children’s Home was started for African American children; it closed in 1980, and we do not know if any records survive. The Maude Carpenter Children’s Home was started in the 1920’s; it is still in operation, but we’ve been told that resident records are not available.