1960s – Catholic Social Service was established in 1965, serving the 28 counties of the Dodge City Diocese.  In the beginning we worked with local communities to identify unmet needs.  We co-sponsored the first alcoholism awareness seminar and helped establish a residential facility for troubled juvenile girls operating today as the Barton County Youth Care.  We began licensing foster homes and providing education and support to adoptive families CSS also helped organize and establish a day care center in Great Bend that is known today as the Great Bend Children's Learning Center.

1970s – Catholic Social Service continued to work with communities in address local needs.  We helped initiate a GED program, and established a program for the aging, homemaker programs, Senior Citizen Centers, Meals on Wheels, nutrition programs, Living Memorial Funds, activity programs for the elderly, and Concerned Citizens for the Aging.  Catholic Social Service opened Sommerset Place, a low income housing project.

1980s – In the 1980s we saw community needs change and helped to establish a community education program focusing on parent-child-adolescent relationships, sex drugs, moral values, child abuse and prevention.  A temporary shelter and food bank was opened in Garden City and a shelter for domestic violence opened in Great Bend known as the Family Crisis Center. 

1990s – We continued to grow with federal and state-sponsored programs.  We began providing foster care and respite care for children with disabilities, helping them stay at home or within their home community.  We became a part of the Kansas Adoption Network, providing adoption services for children in state custody, when the state privatized its adoption services. 

2000s – The new millennium brought new challenges.  Participation in government contract was becoming more competitive, unstable and more difficult for small agencies.  We looked to our roots as a part of the Catholic Charities movement to broaden our services and deepen our mission.  We began working to promote Catholic social teaching through involvement in JustFaith and Justice for Newcomers.  We formed parish and community partnerships through the implementation of The Kansas Benefit Bank.  We became the lead agency to provide Adoption Awareness Training to medical providers.  As we look to the future we hope to continue to maintain contractual relationships to provide service that are relevant to our local communities that will maintain the integrity of our mission.