Kentucky Youth Advocates, in partnership with Casey Family Programs and True Up Kentucky, is launching a new project focused on foster care alumni and their experiences in residential care or institutional settings* while in the child welfare system. Our researchers include foster care alumni, helping shape questions and facilitate conversations.  KYA and True Up will advocate and work for those with lived experiences in the child welfare system by lifting up their voices with the [...]

This blog post was originally posted on The Child Welfare Advocate Blog by WKU Center for Child Welfare Education and Research on April 14, 2021.  Kentucky was recognized for the third year in a row as having the highest rate of child maltreatment in the nation.[1] That is an overwhelming statistic and a lot to unpack for those of us who work with families and children. So, what does that mean for advocates? As an advocate, [...]

The Department for Community Based Services’ annual report on child fatalities and near fatalities due to abuse and neglect was released last month. This report is mandated by law and provides information on the fatalities and near fatalities due to the maltreatment of children under the age of 18 in Kentucky. The report details data on fatalities and near fatalities and discusses demographic information as well as perpetrator information and risk factors present in the [...]

There are nearly 100,000 Kentucky kids living in kinship care. While beneficial for children, kinship care can pose considerable financial, legal, and emotional challenges for caregivers. Research has shown that kinship caregivers go to great lengths to meet the needs of the relative children, however, their efforts often come at the expense of their own personal care. Social support contributes to caregivers’ ability to provide a nurturing environment for the children in their care [...]

When children cannot remain safely with their parents, grandparents, other relatives, and close family friends often step up to help raise them. There have been a lot of changes over the last few months in Kentucky around services and supports related to relatives and close family friends raising children, also known as kinship care and fictive kin care. To learn more, check out the Cabinet for Health and Family Services’ new KY FACES website. If [...]