Where else could they go? It was either us or a foster home. When you have a loving family that wants to take them in and support them there has to be something to support that. –Grandmother raising 3 grandchildren, Kenton County Kentucky’s strong family values are exemplified by the thousands of relatives stepping up to care for children in their family. With the number of children being cared for by kin nearly doubling over [...]
Kentucky Youth Advocates Board and Staff wish you a great holiday season and look forward to seeing you in the new year!
On Thursday, January 16, 2014, hundreds of advocates, business leaders, youth and elected officials will gather at the Capitol in Frankfort to be a visual and audible presence for Kentucky’s most precious asset: its children. Since the first Children’s Advocacy Day in 2004, the event has grown in numbers but has maintained its purpose of rallying advocates to stand up and speak out on behalf of kids. This year, the 10th Annual Children’s Advocacy Day [...]
I’d like to start with two seemingly disparate paragraphs. The first is about Edward DeBono. DeBono is one interesting guy. He holds multiple doctorates – including a medical degree – from places like Oxford and Cambridge. A Rhodes Scholar, DeBono has held faculty appointments at his two alma maters and Harvard. He is widely viewed as the leading international researcher around the neuroscience of thinking. While he has written over seventy books, his research was [...]
As we delve deeper into the holiday season, we are often reminded of how many families throughout the country, and here in the Commonwealth, struggle every day to make ends meet. So many parents are working and trying to take care of their children, and themselves. As our legislators prepare to head to Frankfort in January, they have opportunities to help these families in meaningful ways. Thousands of Kentucky families and communities could see immediate [...]
Step Up For Kids on #GivingTuesday by Investing in Kentucky Youth Advocates www.kyyouth.org/donate. Your Support DOES Make an Impact!
On behalf of all of us at Kentucky Youth Advocates (KYA), we send to each of you – our partners – the best hopes for a blessed and meaningful Thanksgiving. That wonderful writer and theologian, Chuck Swindoll, remembers a Thanksgiving in 1944 when he had just turned ten and was in the fifth grade at Southmayd Elementary School in East Houston. He recalls: Draped high across the front of our classroom was a huge American [...]
Since its creation in 1975, the Earned Income Credit has grown to become the nation’s largest and most successful anti-poverty program. In 2011, the Earned Income Credit lifted more than 6 million people out of poverty. Undoubtedly, the Earned Income Credit benefits millions of hard-working families who would have a difficult time making ends meet without the refundable tax credit. Increasingly, however, the Earned Income Credit is also being recognized for its positive impact on [...]
Do we run systems for children from an adult orientation or a kid’s perspective? That is this week’s big picture question in thinking about Kentucky’s kids during their first eight years of life. We have been writing for the last couple of weeks about a recent report, The First Eight Years: Giving Kids a Foundation for a Lifetime of Success, which was co-released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation (AECF) and Kentucky Youth Advocates on [...]
It’s time to set the record straight on eligibility for the Kentucky Transitional Assistance Program (K-TAP). During the month of October, Kentucky Youth Advocates held five focus groups across the state to learn more about the needs of kinship families. During those focus groups, I learned that many of the participants were struggling financially but were not accessing financial assistance through K-TAP due to a belief that they were not eligible. I did some research [...]
