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The Opioid Settlement and Impact for Kentucky Kids

“Hope blooms when the time is ready.” – Debasish Mridha After seeing waves of the opioid epidemic pass through Kentucky since the late 1990s, Kentucky is ready and well-equipped  to turn the tide. Due to actions taken by all three branches of Kentucky’s government, and major efforts by the Attorney General’s office specifically, we are set to see hundreds of millions of dollars come directly to Kentucky from the opioid settlement. With investments and persistence, [...]

By |2024-12-04T17:38:39-05:00April 6th, 2023|Blog, Bloom Kentucky, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education, Health, Race Equity|
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KYGA23: Impacts for Kids and Families

The actions of the General Assembly during the 2023 legislative session confounded us at times. While we certainly don’t agree with any legislator 100% of the time, there are still ways we can find common ground and at the very least agree on a process. In the juvenile justice realm – we’ll go into bill details below – members of the House and Senate demonstrated thoughtful and careful consideration. The much debated House Bill 3 [...]

By |2023-04-26T15:38:36-04:00April 5th, 2023|Blog, Bloom Kentucky, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Health, Race Equity, Youth Justice|
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Guest Blog on Truth Telling Circle: #ThroughMyEyes

By: Glenda Wright, J.D. What does identity mean, and what impact does identity have on us? This question is something I have been exploring over the last year while working on the Truth & Reconciliation project of the Thriving Families, Safer Children Kentucky initiative.   My name is Glenda Wright, and I am a Child Welfare Consultant who was fortunate enough to be extended an invitation to join this project as one of four youth [...]

By |2023-03-31T16:14:47-04:00March 31st, 2023|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Race Equity|
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Social Workers Breaking Barriers for Kids

March is National Social Work Month! The theme for 2023 is Social Work Breaks Barriers. Did you know there are over 750,000 social workers in the nation?  Social workers have a responsibility to serve others through lenses of compassion, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Social workers implement their core values of service, social justice, the importance of human relationships, dignity and worth of the person, integrity, and competence into their job duties every day.  With so [...]

By |2023-03-29T17:16:48-04:00March 29th, 2023|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education, Health, Justice, Race Equity, Youth Justice|
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Celebrating Much Needed KTAP Updates

Every parent knows that raising kids is expensive, and access to cash is essential to ensuring families can afford everyday expenses and weather emergencies. This is especially true for families in poverty, whose already tight budgets have been disproportionately impacted by rising inflation.  The Kentucky Transitional Assistance Program (KTAP) provides this direct cash support to Kentucky families living in deep poverty and kinship caregivers while also connecting families to workforce education and training programs and [...]

By |2023-03-29T16:32:17-04:00March 29th, 2023|Blog, Bloom Kentucky, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security|
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Slam Dunks for School Nutrition

For most Kentuckians, March brings up thoughts of basketball and brackets.  For our school nutrition professionals and students, however, March is the home of National Nutrition Month.  The USDA school nutrition programs, like the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs, are a slam dunk for Kentucky kids, ensuring they have access to at least two meals a day during the school year. With over 1 in 6 Kentucky kids not having enough to [...]

By |2023-03-23T13:15:01-04:00March 23rd, 2023|Blog, Economic Security, Education, Health|
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Statement on Final Passage of Bills Impacting Juvenile Justice

Contact: Mara Powell mpowell@kyyouth.org Statement from Dr. Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates LOUISVILLE, KY – There has seldom been such a transformative process around a major policy arena than what we have seen around juvenile justice in the 2023 General Assembly. We have been critical as recently as a year ago about both the process and substance of juvenile justice legislation.  Therefore, it is especially important that we commend the process and [...]

By |2023-03-17T14:14:18-04:00March 16th, 2023|Blog, News Room, Race Equity, Youth Justice|
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Statement on Final Passage of SB 150

Contact: Mara Powell mpowell@kyyouth.org Statement from Dr. Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates LOUISVILLE, KY – As the ramifications of Senate Bill 150 with pieces of House Bill 470 in an amendment are dissected, reasonable folks from across the political spectrum agree on several tenets. First, this is not a Kentucky measure – the genesis of this measure springs from a national agenda of fearmongering. Secondly, gender affirming care is not about a [...]

By |2023-03-17T12:16:00-04:00March 16th, 2023|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Health, News Room|
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Updates on Bills Impacting the Child Welfare System

Though the 2023 legislative session is soon ending, there are many bills that affect children and families making progress within the General Assembly. There are 4 important child welfare bills that child advocates have been keeping an eye on: Senate Bills 48 and 229 and House Bills 41 and 288.   While there has been a 33% reduction in victims from 2017 to 2021, Kentucky ranks 6th in the nation in child victims of maltreatment with [...]

By |2023-03-16T17:34:24-04:00March 16th, 2023|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety|
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Updates on KYGA23 Bills Impacting the Juvenile Justice System

Updated April 5, 2023 The 2023 Kentucky General Assembly has an increased focus on the juvenile justice system in light of recent concerns about safety and workforce capacity within the Department of Juvenile Justice facilities, and broader ongoing concerns about community violence. Three bills have been filed in the House and Senate in an effort to begin addressing some of these issues. In the Senate, two bills that will strengthen oversight and improve workforce development [...]

By |2023-04-05T16:22:18-04:00March 7th, 2023|Blog, Race Equity, Youth Justice|
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