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So far Kentucky Youth Advocates has created 944 blog entries.

The Impact of Guns on Kentucky Kids

By Kaitlin Lacefield, Intern at Kentucky Youth Advocates Since 2020, the number of child deaths by a gun has surpassed car accidents and motor vehicle-related deaths. Firearms are the leading cause of death for children under 18 in Kentucky and nationally. Now, there is a challenge to prevent accidental shootings involving children by building knowledge and increasing awareness. The number of gun deaths among Americans has been on the rise since 2019. Unfortunately, children are [...]

By |2023-07-27T15:59:32-04:00July 27th, 2023|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Health, Justice|
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OP-ED: Believe in Parents, Give Families Hope

This post appeared as an op-ed in the Herald Leader on July 6, 2023. By Valerie Frost and Carla Stamper June is National Reunification Month. It is an annual reminder of the true intention of foster care–a temporary measure to keep children stable and safe with the ultimate purpose of reuniting them with their family. This isn't always what happens though, and not for the reasons you may think. Nationally, less than half of children [...]

By |2023-07-06T17:14:39-04:00June 29th, 2023|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety|
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2023 National KIDS COUNT Data Book: Challenges Facing Child Well-Being & Child Care

Terry Brooks discusses data trends featured in the latest national KIDS COUNT Data Book from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, including challenges facing child and family well-being and the child care sector. Sarah Vanover, Policy and Research Director at Kentucky Youth Advocates, moderates a panel of child care advocates: State Senator Danny Carroll, Ashley Brandt with Metro United Way, and Kathy Donelan of Aunt Kathy's Child Care & Preschool, Inc. in Northern Kentucky. View [...]

By |2023-06-23T12:57:21-04:00June 27th, 2023|Podcast|
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Intern Insights: Understanding the Impacts of Homelessness for Foster Youth

By Carlie Reeves, Intern at Kentucky Youth Advocates Homelessness, while experienced by many, disproportionately affects those with a foster care experience.  It has been found that in Kentucky, 1 in 3 young adults who have foster care experience will face homelessness/housing instability at some point. So, out of the 1,132 youth aged 16-20 that were in foster care in 2021, 444 of them will eventually face housing instability. Foster care’s purpose is to reunify families or establish [...]

By |2023-06-21T14:05:39-04:00June 21st, 2023|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education|
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Guest Blog: Keeping Families Connected Is Important: Guide to Jail Visiting in KY Shows How to Take Action

By Judith Jennings Find the Keeping Families Connected: A Guide to Keeping Families Connected at www.LFJA502.org.  High-quality jail visiting programs are urgently needed to reduce harms to children and families and humanize local criminal legal systems. Overcrowding in county jails in Kentucky and across the nation is well known. Yet, as families with incarcerated loved ones know all too well, incarceration negatively impacts parents, children, and communities, and staying connected is often challenging.  Kentucky has [...]

By |2023-06-20T17:51:38-04:00June 20th, 2023|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Justice, Race Equity|
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Kentucky Ranks 40th in Child Well-Being While Inaccessible, Unaffordable Child Care Deeply Impacts Families and Economy

Contact: Mara Powell mpowell@kyyouth.org 502-895-8167 X122 Kentucky Ranks 40th in Child Well-Being While Inaccessible, Unaffordable Child Care Deeply Impacts Families and Economy Data Show Child Care Challenges Caused Over 1 in 9 Kentucky Parents to Miss, Quit, or Scale Back Work, the Annie E. Casey Foundation Finds LOUISVILLE, KY — Kentucky ranks 40th in child well-being, according to the 2023 KIDS COUNT® Data Book, a 50-state report of recent household data developed by the Annie [...]

By |2023-06-13T16:52:15-04:00June 14th, 2023|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education, Health, News Room, Race Equity|
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REFORM Louisville: Finding Power in My Voice

By Leondrea Johnson About a year ago, one of the staff people at YouthBuild Louisville told us he had an opportunity for a couple of us to participate in. When we met the first time with Kentucky Youth Advocates, the work they talked about pulled me in. They asked us about what changes we wanted to see in our community and talked about things that some of us had experienced - like school suspensions [...]

By |2024-08-20T16:31:56-04:00June 9th, 2023|Blog, Justice, Race Equity, Youth Justice|
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Health Youth Ambassadors Reflects on the Importance of Mental Health Awareness

By: Trent Cox, Health Youth Ambassador Mental Health Awareness In Youth The awareness of mental health is something that people may recognize, but oftentimes it isn't recognized enough. Mental health issues can stem from a wide range of things such as problems at school, work, or even in the home.  Mental health issues are extremely prominent in our youth population. The National Institute of Mental Health states that 49.5% of adolescents report to suffer from mental [...]

By |2023-06-09T15:27:25-04:00May 19th, 2023|Blog, Health|
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Guest Blog on Truth Telling Circle: Portraying My Testimony Through Art

By: Tia Humphrey Over the past year or so, I have worked with Kentucky Youth Advocates and other Young Adults on a grant surrounding the disproportionality African American youth face with the foster system. Not only has this given me the opportunity and platform to share my testimony of experience, but it has also allowed me to connect and relate to my peers with different and similar experiences. Not only was I able to share my testimony, [...]

By |2023-05-18T14:32:07-04:00May 18th, 2023|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Race Equity|
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Too Many Kentucky Young People Exit Foster Care Without Permanent Families and Unprepared to Thrive on Their Own

Too Many Kentucky Young People Exit Foster Care Without Permanent Families and Unprepared to Thrive on Their Own Fostering Youth Transitions 2023 Urges Improvements to Extended Foster Care Transition LOUISVILLE, KY – Permanent families and supportive adult connections, stable housing, and postsecondary education remain beyond the reach of too many young people with foster care experience, according to Fostering Youth Transitions 2023: State and National Data to Drive Foster Care Advocacy, a data brief released [...]

By |2023-05-10T11:49:46-04:00May 10th, 2023|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education, Health, Justice, News Room, Race Equity|
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