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Keep Kids Fed Act

At the start of the pandemic, Congress acted quickly to ensure schools and nonprofits had the tools and flexibilities needed to keep kids fed. Waivers like the congregate feeding waiver have allowed schools in rural Kentucky to deliver meals directly to kids, while higher reimbursement rates have helped schools and child care centers weather staffing and supply chain challenges.  Last week, Congress once again acted quickly to ensure that these flexibilities and higher reimbursements were [...]

By |2022-06-30T16:58:48-04:00June 30th, 2022|Blog, Economic Security, Health|
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Reflections from the 2022 KY Commission on Race & Access to Opportunity

Read about the November 2021 meeting of the Commission on Race and Opportunity here.  Following the 2021 General Assembly, SB 10, co-sponsored by Senator Givens, Senator Whitney Westerfield, and Senate President Robert Stivers, became law and established the Commission on Race and Access to Opportunity. The group is tasked with studying and researching issues where disparities may exist across various sectors to determine areas of improvement and to provide services and opportunities for communities of [...]

By |2022-06-30T12:08:31-04:00June 30th, 2022|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education, Health, Justice, Race Equity, Youth Justice|
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Join us in Recognizing and Celebrating Reunification Month

Parenting can be tough under normal circumstances but adding in extra obstacles that come with getting a family back together after child removal can be even more challenging. While foster care may be a necessary option when there are safety and well-being concerns, the ideal goal is to return children to their own families and back in their homes whenever safely possible.   During the month of June, Kentucky joined other states to recognize National [...]

By |2022-06-30T11:50:06-04:00June 29th, 2022|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety|
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New Suicide Prevention Hotline Coming Soon

Mental health support and suicide prevention resources are a critical resource for Kentuckians. Children and their families across the Commonwealth struggled with their mental health well before the isolation and other challenges brought forth by the pandemic. Coming in July, a new three-digit number for suicide response and mental health crisis care – 988 – will be available across the Commonwealth, and nationwide.   July 2022 marks the shift of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline [...]

By |2022-06-29T17:18:44-04:00June 27th, 2022|Blog, Health|
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Recognizing Federal Protections for the LGBTQ+ Community

By Jordan Ojile, Intern at Kentucky Youth Advocates June is recognized nationally as Pride Month, a time to celebrate strides made and remaining work in LGBTQ+ health and wellbeing. There have been several unsuccessful drives in recent years to protect Kentucky’s vulnerable LGBTQ+ youth. Since 2017, Ban Conversion Therapy Kentucky has been at the forefront of education, advocacy, and lobbying efforts across the Commonwealth. During the 2022 Kentucky General Assembly, the Youth Mental Health Protection [...]

By |2022-06-23T12:40:58-04:00June 23rd, 2022|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Health|
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Infant Formula Shortage – Updates and Resources

Babies have special nutritional needs, and many parents across Kentucky rely on baby formula to meet these needs. The baby formula shortage has caused significant stress for Kentucky’s newest parent, especially parents whose babies rely on specialty formulas.  To address this crisis, state and federal lawmakers have taken several steps to help increase the supply of formula:  The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has begun to import baby formula from other countries into the [...]

By |2022-06-16T12:15:42-04:00June 16th, 2022|Blog, Health|
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What can Kentucky learn from the Tennessee preschool program?

Dr. Dale Farran and her colleagues from Vanderbilt University recently completed a multi-year study on the effectiveness of Tennessee’s public school preschool program. The study followed children from preschool through middle school to see how preschool affected the children’s long-term learning. Tennessee does not offer universal pre-Kindergarten, but instead they focus their public school preschool program on children considered “at-risk” due to factors like living in poverty. Tennessee used full-day preschool that aligned with the [...]

By |2022-06-14T15:57:08-04:00June 14th, 2022|Blog, Education|
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Young Kids Are Learning to Regulate Their Emotions — They Should Not Be in the Juvenile Justice System

Children as young as six-years-old have been arrested in the U.S., which remains one of the only countries without a nationally mandated standard for juvenile prosecution. As of May 2022, just under half of states in the U.S. still have no minimum age for prosecuting children.  Six-year-olds are still learning how to regulate their emotions. Throwing a tantrum should not lead to the arrest of a child but should instead be a segue to introducing [...]

By |2022-06-17T00:19:10-04:00June 13th, 2022|Blog, Race Equity, Youth Justice|
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Filling the Summer Meal Gap for Families

Summer should be a stress free time where kids get to relax. However, for nearly 1 in 5 kids across the Commonwealth summer is often the hungriest time of the year. The loss of free school meals and rising grocery costs means that families spend more on groceries in the summer, stretching already tight budgets and leaving kids at risk of missing meals.  To help fill this summer meal gap, there are several programs available to [...]

By |2022-06-09T13:44:01-04:00June 9th, 2022|Blog, Economic Security, Education, Health|
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Celebrating Oral Health Month

As we look forward to all the fun summer activities in June, we are celebrating Oral Health Month and highlighting the importance of treating the whole person with the Kentucky Oral Health Coalition, a project of Kentucky Youth Advocates. Caring for our oral health means more than simply brushing and flossing your teeth – an important part! It also means caring for your entire mouth, including your gums, by getting regular check-ups and screenings, and [...]

By |2022-06-07T17:28:47-04:00June 7th, 2022|Blog, Health|
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