This week, we co-released with the Annie E. Casey Foundation the national 2016 KIDS COUNT Data Book. We get pretty excited about this release because the Data Book provides the best assessment of how Kentucky’s children and youth are faring in comparison to those across the nation. Let’s face it, we live in a very competitive state – think basketball and horse racing – so we eagerly await the Data Book to see if Kentucky [...]

Ashley* shares her story as part of the release of a new KIDS COUNT® policy report, A Shared Sentence: The Devastating Toll of Parental Incarceration on Kids, Families and Communities. She is one of 135,000 Kentucky children who has had a parent incarcerated, according to data collected in 2011/2012. By Ashley When I was 12, I discovered that my mom was addicted to drugs. It was hard for us from then on. As her drug addiction worsened, my [...]

Policy debates about incarceration rarely focus on the impact on children. Yet, we know that when a parent is in jail or prison, it creates an unstable environment for kids that can have lasting effects like poverty, changes in living situations, and mental and emotional health issues. A new KIDS COUNT® policy report, A Shared Sentence: The Devastating Toll of Parental Incarceration on Kids, Families and Communities, estimates 135,000 children in Kentucky have had a parent incarcerated, according [...]