April is Child Abuse Prevention Month. Family & Children’s Place, along with the Kosair Charities Face It® Movement partners, kicked off the month with a Rally to End Child Abuse at the Big Four Bridge in Louisville. Hundreds of advocates from Kentucky and Indiana—both sides of the Big Four Bridge—came out to support protecting children from abuse and neglect. Speakers included Pam Darnall, executive director of Family & Children’s Place, Sadiqa Reynolds from Mayor Greg Fischer’s [...]

The Kinship Families Coalition of Kentucky is a community group dedicated to raising awareness of the issues surrounding kinship care in Kentucky and forwarding recommendations for policy changes to increase supports for kinship families.  Members from across the state include relative caregivers, advocacy organizations, and support service providers. Kentucky has one of the highest rates in the nation of children in the care of grandparents and other relatives, approximately 6 percent. Strains on the education [...]

Last Wednesday I attended the Children Thrive in Violence-Free Lives: Building Community Prevention Conference hosted by Kosair Charities, The Children Exposed to Violence Collective Impact Initiative, and the Face It® Movement to end child abuse. The conference focused on the impacts of children’s exposure to violence and how it can be addressed in our community.  Others in attendance included community leaders and professionals that work to prevent and intervene in child abuse and family violence. [...]

It can often be difficult to broach the topic of child sexual abuse, but it is essential that adults learn the facts about it. We can help prevent children from becoming victims of sexual abuse if we have the tools to keep it from happening in the first place. And, we can protect and help children heal from trauma if we know how sexual abuse impacts children and the support they need to recover. What [...]

Last week Congress passed The Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act (H.R. 4980) just before leaving Washington for the campaign season. This bi-partisan bill is a substantial victory for children in foster care, kinship care, and those waiting to be adopted. The primary purpose of The Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act is to: ensure that children in state’s care or supervision at risk of sex trafficking are identified, protected, and linked to [...]

This coming Sunday, September 7th is National Grandparents Day, a time to show appreciation for our grandparents and all they do for us. This day gives everyone an opportunity to celebrate Kentucky’s grandparents, including those who stepped up to raise over 60,000 grandchildren in 2012.  In Kentucky, six percent of children are in the care of their grandparents, one of the highest rates in the nation. These grandparents were called on to step up and be [...]