Just as Santa and his elves have been hard at work this year building toys for children, the Thriving Families, Safer Children Kentucky (TFSCKY) team has been working hard to foster communities where children and families can thrive.
TFSCKY is a statewide collaborative of partners who share the common goal of using preventative measures to keep children free of harm by supporting families. To learn more about this initiative, check out the Thriving Families, Safer Children KY webpage.
2024 has been a year of expansion for the TFSCKY team. Below you will find an update on just how hard our partners have been working across the Commonwealth.
Kentucky Youth Advocates:
KY SEAT – Statewide Parent Advisory Council
KY SEAT has provided a platform for parents who have experience with the child welfare system to use their experience to create system change. They have spoken on panels, remained engaged with Alternative Response, and helped review materials to ensure they included family-friendly language. Additionally, KY SEAT hosted a positive parenting event in Bowling Green in December. The event included a presentation on parental resilience and highlighted the role a father can play in it.
Regional Prevention Collaboratives
Following the re-visioning sessions this summer, the regions are currently working on finalizing their action plans. Most of the regions have been able to come together and schedule monthly meetings in order to work on the objectives from their action plans. Each region is working to identify key partners in the region who can lead the proposed initiatives.
Department for Community Based Services:
Alternative Response (AR)
- What is Alternative Response? When a report is made to Child Protective Services (CPS) that does not meet the qualifications for an investigation, the family is referred to Alternative Response. The family will be directed to resources that help support the family and allow the child to remain in the home.
- Update: There are three regions left for AR to be implemented in: Southern Bluegrass, The Lakes and Jefferson regions. The implementation of AR began in Jefferson and Salt River Trail this month.The goal is for AR to be implemented across the Commonwealth by Fall 2025.
Community Response
Changes have been made to Community Response this year. Community Response is now looking at targeting populations of children ages 6 to 11 – the population that tends to receive the highest percentage of reports made to DCBS. The goal is to target where efforts are most impactful.
Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities (DBHDID)
The KY SIX team is being built and is expecting to be fully staffed by March. DBHDID is also working on bringing awareness to the LGBTQ+ community and addressing equity issues while working on relationship building as a system structure.
Community Resources (FRYSC)
The Family Resource and Youth Services Centers (FRYSCs) serve as the school, home, and community connection in many of our local school districts to connect families with resources to address non-academic barriers to learning. FRYSCs are currently working to increase participation in the Dolly Parton Imagination Library and continue to offer parent cafes, support groups, and resource connection to relatives raising relatives. Holiday assistance through local angel trees and other community collaborations are a big focus in December.
Commonwealth Center for Fathers and Families (CCFF):
Fatherhood Engagement
CCFF has been growing and preparing for 2025. This initiative currently consists of 60 Fathers who represent 32 counties in the Commonwealth. Applications to join will open the first week of January for those who are interested. In 2025, CCFF will launch a Reentry, Recovery, Reunification program in order to support organizations who help fathers re-engage with their families.
The Administrative Office of the Courts:
Community Mapping takes the constructs of statewide models and efforts of Sequential Intercept Model and Upstream and combines them into a single mapping event. Kentucky Judicial Commission on Mental Health has partnered with the Office of Statewide Programs and the National Center for State Courts to train 9 facilitators. The first community mapping event was held in June, where community and judicial partners from across Pulaski and Rockcastle counties were invited by local judges and engaged in enumerating resources, defining processes, and identifying opportunities for further action. Action planning groups have identified next steps and begun meeting to work on their action plans. The Johnson County Mapping took place in October, Warren County in December, and Clark and Madison Counties are scheduled for January 2025. Community mapping is a judge-led initiative, so the request for training does ultimately have to come from a local judge who is willing to help lead the effort.
Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky:
Lean on Me Kentucky
Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky is working on updating curriculum that will be used to train all 120 counties on Upstream prevention strategies. PCAK are also currently hiring a Lean on Me Kentucky Coordinator.
Parent Engagement
The Parent Summit offered a space for providers and parents with child welfare experience to come together and learn how to effectively Co-design. Following a successful first one-day Parent Summit, another Summit has been planned for September 17, 2025.
Brighton Center:
Building Community Wellbeing Among Families
The Brighton Center is partnering with early childhood partners in order to address the disparities for kids of color not going into quality early education programs.
Kentucky Strengthening Families:
KPFC is offering the Core Competency Training (CCT) for Youth Peer Support Specialist certification *and* Family Peer Support Specialist Certification. Visit https://kypartnership.org/events/ for more information or contact Amanda Metcalf at amanda@kypartnership.org to register/ ask questions.
Photo by Caleb Oquendo via Pexels
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