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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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Being a Child Advocate Beyond the Legislative Session

Summer is here! Now is the time to discuss policies that passed in the 2022 legislative session and brainstorm new priorities for next session, create an advocacy plan around issues that impact your community and/or you, and educate policymakers. As you are getting out there enjoying summer activities, there are many ways to advocate for yourself, family, clients, and your community: Stay informed. Read and research topics of interest and/or topics you want to better [...]

By |2022-07-14T12:58:57-04:00June 7th, 2022|Blog|
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Health Insurance Updates for Kentucky Families

All children, especially those living in low-income and vulnerable families, need access to affordable health care. Having health insurance means children are able to access critical preventive and ongoing care needed to stay healthy. It means that kids can visit the doctor, dentist, eye doctor, and mental health professionals to support their healthy development. A parent’s health—and health insurance status—affects the health and well-being of other family members, especially their children. When parents are insured, they [...]

By |2022-06-01T17:02:04-04:00June 1st, 2022|Blog, Health|
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OP-ED: Wrapping around our foster care alumni experiencing homelessness

This post originally appeared as an op-ed in the Herald Leader on May 27, 2022. By Tia Humphrey, Lynn Rippy, and Nikki Thornton 1 in 3. 1 in 3 young adults with a foster care experience face housing instability in Kentucky. That’s 1 in 3 young people with their livelihood and potential hanging by a thread, despite resources readily available. How did these young people get to the point of homelessness? In Kentucky, there are [...]

By |2022-05-31T16:59:08-04:00May 31st, 2022|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security|
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OP-ED: Let’s create more caring communities when it comes to mental health

This post originally appeared as an op-ed in the Messenger-Inquirer on May 25, 2022. By Barry Allen and the Bloom Kentucky Advisory Council “What’s wrong with you?” If you have struggled emotionally in public or amongst family or friends, you may have been asked this question. Maybe you’ve snapped at your child after losing your patience in the cereal aisle of the grocery store and a stranger gives you that questioning look. Or perhaps you’ve asked this [...]

By |2022-05-26T09:43:52-04:00May 26th, 2022|Blog, Bloom Kentucky, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education, Health, Race Equity|
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