When it comes to preventing child abuse and keeping families from unnecessarily engaging with the child welfare system, economic and concrete supports are essential. In Kentucky, many of the Thriving Families, Safer Children Kentucky Regional Prevention Collaborative teams noted that knowledge of and access to supports and resources for families is a need within their community, including transportation, child care, housing, and access to service providers. The need for these supports and resources were highlighted across both rural and urban areas. In rural areas, the challenge was often a lack of available resources, while in urban areas, there was a lack of knowledge surrounding what resources are available and how to access them. 

What is being done in the Regional Prevention Collaborative groups? 

Across the state, these teams have taken action to improve families’ access to critical supports:

  • Cumberland Region’s three prevention strategies involve increasing awareness of and engagement in available resources. 
  • Eastern Mountain Region has objectives focused on expanding and distributing resource guides. Specifically expanding to include accessing food and family housing for recovery/second chance housing. 
  • Northern Bluegrass Region highlights increasing awareness of KYNECT resources, and increasing utilization of resource guides. 
  • Salt River Trail Region is focused on increasing awareness of transportation services in the region, and also increasing awareness of resources that support families who have children with special needs. This includes connecting with KYNECT in order to gather data on utilization of these resources. 
  • Southern Bluegrass Region’s efforts consisted of sharing flyers for service providers who serve that region. 
  • The Lakes Region created a prevention strategy surrounding connecting caregivers to needed supports. Their efforts consisted of spreading awareness of domestic violence resources and also connecting caregivers to child care resources. 

So what exactly are economic and concrete supports?

Economic and concrete supports help families to meet their basic needs. Providing concrete support in times of need is one of six protective factors noted by Kentucky Strengthening Families. The six protective factors help to improve outcomes for families and reduce risk of child abuse and neglect. 

When families have access to these basic needs such as food, shelter, child care, transportation, financial, and other general support, this helps reduce stress and promotes overall better health outcomes. When families are not able to meet a child’s basic needs, they may be vulnerable to accusations or instances of neglect.

What can you do?

Whether you’re a service provider, community member or policymaker, everyone can play a part in supporting families and preventing child abuse. You can help by:

  • Sharing resource guides with families and caregivers in your area
  • Spreading the word about available services through social media posts and your regular conversations
  • Advocating for policies that invest in economic and concrete supports for families

If you would like to learn more about the work that all of the Regional Prevention Collaboratives are doing, you can read more here.

If you are navigating the child welfare system and in need of additional information and support, check out kythrivingfamilies.org.

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