The Fall season has arrived in Kentucky, complete with chilly weather and visits to pumpkin patches. Another hallmark of this time of year in Kentucky is the upcoming release of the annual Kentucky KIDS COUNT Data Book, coming up on November 20th. For decades now, many of us have come to rely on the information from the Kentucky KIDS COUNT project to assess how kids are faring, measure our progress on improving opportunities, and identify [...]
Parental incarceration can feel like such a heavy topic, knowing the impact it can have on a child, the struggles for parents at home to manage alone, and the stigma that often comes with having a loved one incarcerated. However, the recent convening in Frankfort – Keeping Families Connected: Jail Visits and Communication Action Planning – was a space of hope and connection around a shared vision for doing better in our state. On May [...]
When a parent is incarcerated, children often feel the impact on their lives in many ways. Families might lose income and have a harder time making ends meet. Children will not see their parent as often, or be able to connect with them in the same ways. On a recent webinar, “Community Strategies to Support Children with Incarcerated Parents,” participants heard from a panel of people who personally experienced the separation caused by incarceration, [...]
The opioid crisis that has been impacting our nation has hit Kentucky especially hard. What we’ve seen is that it’s not just people struggling with the disease of addiction that are affected, but children are also impacted in a significant way. We have seen it with the spike in children being cared for by relatives and in the overall increase in the number of children in foster care. Kentucky has been taking steps to respond, and [...]
In January of this year, Kentucky students, parents, teachers, and school administrators were rocked by the tragedy that happened in Marshall County. Two young lives were cut short when their futures held so much potential. On the heels of that tragedy, the Kentucky legislature created the School Safety Working Group as a process for legislators and state leaders to gather information from experts on school safety and make recommendations for action. Earlier this week, the [...]
Not much beats fresh picked fruit in the summertime. Recently we went to pick blueberries on a nearby farm, and it reminded me of summer days picking strawberries in my grandmother’s garden. The work was hard and the weather hot, but we always knew there would be strawberry pie for supper. We continued that tradition this weekend, making a fresh blueberry pie from the fruit we picked. The final result definitely made the hard work [...]
Late last week, the Kentucky General Assembly convened for the final days of the 2018 legislative session. Still to be finalized was the state budget to drive how money will be spent and the level at which services and programs will be funded. Though the General Assembly had passed the budget bill before the veto break on April 2nd, the governor vetoed the bill. The question remained on whether the legislature would simply override the [...]
During the fall of 2017, much of the talk and focus in Frankfort was around the budget and pensions. Questions abounded among those watching for signs of what this budget would hold. What would pension reform look like? Would tax reform be taken up at the same time? If not, what cuts would state agencies face? The wait ended in mid-January with the release of the Governor’s proposed Executive Branch Budget for the Commonwealth of [...]
Fall mornings with Kentucky’s hills and valleys blanketed in fog create a picture-perfect landscape. While I appreciated the view on a recent morning drive, I breathed a sigh of relief when the fog lifted. The budget news for state government in Kentucky has been dire for months as the looming pension crisis has created a fog around the state budget. Recent revenue forecasts predicting another budget shortfall to the tune of $200 million have made [...]
A “one size fits all” approach works much better for some situations than others. A “one size fits all” hat with an adjustable strap, for example, could work for all. A “one size fits all” pair of shoes, on the other hand, wouldn’t work for most. And a “one size fits all” approach doesn’t work well in our youth justice system. Changes that have been implemented in recent months in juvenile court reflect that sentiment, and youth [...]
