Blog Archives - Kentucky Youth Advocates

Guest Post: Helping Young People in Foster Care Heal From Trauma and Build Resilience

Guest Post: Helping Young People in Foster Care Heal From Trauma and Build Resilience

Originally posted by the Annie E. Casey Foundation on their blog. Photo provided by the Annie E. Casey Foundation Growing up is hard to do, and the period from adolescence to early adulthood can be tumultuous even under the best circumstances. For young people whose lives have been disrupted by foster care, the challenges of becoming an adult are amplified. The conditions that have led them to foster care — and being in foster care — [...]

By Kentucky Youth Advocates| 2018-05-24T16:04:56+00:00 May 24th, 2018|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Health|

Federal & State Wins for Kids to Celebrate During Foster Care Month

Federal & State Wins for Kids to Celebrate During Foster Care Month

May is National Foster Care Month and we’re celebrating state and federal legislative changes that will positively impact youth in foster care in 2018 and beyond. Two major legislative reforms happened in recent months, first in Congress, and then in the Kentucky legislature. We discussed here how House Bill 1, which received bipartisan support by the Kentucky Senators and Representatives, will help ensure more kids in Kentucky have safe, permanent homes. These changes will be [...]

By Shannon Moody| 2018-05-17T09:29:59+00:00 May 16th, 2018|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety|

Protecting Girls who have Experienced Abuse: Stopping the Pipeline to Prison

Protecting Girls who have Experienced Abuse: Stopping the Pipeline to Prison

By Cortney Downs, Kentucky Youth Advocates intern Violence against women and girls is nothing new. Statistics show that females between the ages of 16 and 24 experience dating violence at rates three times higher than the national average, and more than 80% of all sexual assault victims under the age of 18 are girls. What is often overlooked is that many of these girls fall into something called the abuse to prison pipeline; where the [...]

By Kentucky Youth Advocates| 2018-05-11T09:53:06+00:00 May 9th, 2018|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Health, Youth Justice|

Guest Post: Ensuring Educational Stability is the New Norm for Youth in Foster Care

Guest Post: Ensuring Educational Stability is the New Norm for Youth in Foster Care

This originally appeared Jefferson County Public Schools' Envision Equity May 2018 issue. By Karena Cash Last year, I had the opportunity to tutor a young girl in foster care, Jaden*. Whenever I first met her, I was blown away at how much she struggled at basic division problems. She was in fifth grade, so she must know thirty divided by six, right? I simply thought that she didn’t pay attention in school. As the months [...]

By Kentucky Youth Advocates| 2018-05-03T15:11:41+00:00 May 3rd, 2018|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Education|

Guest Post: From the Heart of a Foster Parent

Guest Post: From the Heart of a Foster Parent

By Tanna Woodward Oh, the heart of a foster parent. Today, I think about the kids that we’ve had in our home. We’ve tried to make a home for them so they would feel safe and secure. So they would know that someone was watching out for them…was SEEING them when they hurt and struggled with the pain life had thrown at them. We’ve had those children we felt we didn’t help at all. It [...]

By Kentucky Youth Advocates| 2018-05-03T10:04:24+00:00 May 3rd, 2018|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety|

Bipartisan Wins: An Oxymoron that Works for Kids

Bipartisan Wins: An Oxymoron that Works for Kids

This post originally appeared as an op-ed in the Northern Kentucky Tribune and Kentucky Today. “Bipartisan wins” in Frankfort seems like an oxymoron on the same level as “jumbo shrimp” and “bittersweet.” When reflecting on the recent legislative session, it would be easy to think of 2018 only as the year of placards and protests, accusations and apologies, parliamentary finagles and partisan politics. Yet, when it comes to Kentucky’s kids impacted by abuse or neglect, 2018 [...]

By Terry Brooks| 2018-04-27T09:12:22+00:00 April 26th, 2018|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Health, Justice|

Thank You! The Cheers for Children 2018 Celebration

Thank You! The Cheers for Children 2018 Celebration

Last week Kentucky Youth Advocates hosted the Cheers for Children 2018 Celebration, presented by Kosair Charities®, to celebrate progress for kids during this year’s legislative session and to honor community advocates who helped make that progress happen. Thank you to all of the Kentucky Youth Advocates friends and supporters who joined in the celebration! View photos from the event below. In the 2018 legislative session, four Kentucky Youth Advocates and Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children priority bills [...]

By Jessie Whitish| 2018-04-26T21:11:53+00:00 April 26th, 2018|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety|

Two Kentucky Communities Strengthen Smoke-free Ordinance

Two Kentucky Communities Strengthen Smoke-free Ordinance

All children deserve to breathe clean air and be healthy, yet many Kentucky children live in a community that does not offer them strong protections from secondhand tobacco smoke in indoor public places. Exposure to secondhand smoke is also harmful to pregnant women and their babies, as it increases risk for poor birth outcomes. The science is clear that there is no safe level of exposure to secondhand smoke. There is good news! Two Kentucky [...]

By Mahak Kalra| 2018-04-19T13:29:11+00:00 April 19th, 2018|Blog, Health|

Delta Dental of Kentucky Invests in Regional Oral Health Coalitions Across the Commonwealth

Delta Dental of Kentucky Invests in Regional Oral Health Coalitions Across the Commonwealth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83CxQFZcEAc Delta Dental of Kentucky is investing in four regions across Kentucky to help improve oral health among children in the Commonwealth. Each region within the state has a unique set of oral health outcomes, and these regional investments provide a localized solution to improving the oral health status of children in each community. This program is the result of state research findings published in the Making Smiles Happen: 2016 Oral Health Study [...]

By Kelsey Dimar| 2018-04-23T12:06:53+00:00 April 18th, 2018|Blog, Health|

The Final State Budget and What it Means for Kids and Families

The Final State Budget and What it Means for Kids and Families

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 [...]

By Tara Grieshop-Goodwin| 2018-04-23T12:08:48+00:00 April 17th, 2018|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education, Health|

ACTION ALERTS!

Thank Your Legislators for Supporting HB 1

Thank Your Legislators for Supporting HB 527

Thank Your Legislators for Supporting SB 133

Thank Your Legislators for Supporting SB 137

Be sure to check out the 2018 Kentucky General Assembly Bill Tracker to see the status of Blueprint for Kentucky's Children priorities and other bills that are good for kids.

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