Cynthia Schepers, a college student from Jefferson County and a member of the First Lady’s Youth Leadership Council, spoke at the ceremonial signing of House Bill 1 on May 31, 2018. Read her speech below. My name is Cynthia Schepers and I am a former foster youth and current Junior at University of Louisville. The passing of House Bill 1 is an amazing victory for the children of Kentucky. HB 1 does many things for [...]
In January the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) approved the Bevin Administration’s 1115 Medicaid Waiver to modify Kentucky’s Medicaid program for the next five years, known as Kentucky HEALTH. We at Kentucky Youth Advocates believe Kentucky HEALTH’s initial rollout and ongoing implementation must be family-centric. Parents’ health coverage is vitally important to children’s health coverage, and if parents are going to maintain coverage to improve health outcomes for themselves and their children, [...]
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 — [...]
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 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 [...]
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 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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
