Contact: Mara Powell 859-496-5524 mpowell@kyyouth.org Statement by Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates We thank the Senate Health and Welfare Committee for unanimously passing HB 180, sponsored by Chair of the House Health and Family Services Committee Representative Addia Wuchner, to allow close family friends to serve as kinship caregivers. When a child must be removed from their home, placement with a close family friend eases the trauma of removal. HB 180 prioritizes [...]

Contact: Mara Powell 859-496-5524 mpowell@kyyouth.org Statement by Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates We thank the Kentucky House for passing HB 180, sponsored by Chair of the House Health and Family Services Committee Representative Addia Wuchner, to allow close family friends to serve as kinship caregivers. Placement with a close family friend, also known as fictive kin, can help reduce trauma when children must be removed from their home due to abuse or [...]

Contact: Mara Powell 859-496-5524 mpowell@kyyouth.org Statement by Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates We applaud the House Health and Family Services Committee for passing HB 180, sponsored by Committee Chair Representative Addia Wuchner, to allow close family friends to serve as kinship caregivers. This type of placement with a close family friend offers a beneficial alternative to foster care and helps to relieve trauma children often face upon removal from their home. We [...]

Contact: Mara Powell mpowell@kyyouth.org 859-496-5524 Jeffersontown, KY - There was no more profound point in the Governor’s address than his clarion pledge to fundamentally reform Kentucky’s child welfare system. The commitment to tackle issues from foster care to adoption, from child abuse to family supports, can be a game changer for the Commonwealth’s most vulnerable kids. And opportunities abound in efforts like family preservation, kinship care, and the transition out of foster care. Making that commitment [...]

Contact: Emilee Coomes, BoxcarPR 502-797-5058 Emilee@boxcarpr.com Andrea Bennett, Kentucky Youth Advocates 502-381-1176 abennett@kyyouth.org Access to Oral Health Care in Kentucky Has Increased, Yet Children Face Pressing Oral Health Needs New Report Highlights Findings of 2016 Oral Health Study of Kentucky's Youth Jeffersontown, KY - Access to oral health care has increased since 2001, yet more children face urgent dental needs, according to a new study co-released today by Delta Dental of Kentucky and Kentucky Youth Advocates. [...]

New data released today by the U.S Census Bureau reveals that more than one in four Kentucky children still live in poverty. The American Community Survey 1-year estimate shows 25.9 percent of Kentucky children lived in poverty in 2015, which was not a significant change from the 2014 estimate. This estimate reveals that the percent of Kentucky children living in poverty remains higher since the recession began in 2008 (23.5 percent). “We know the data [...]