New Resource for Supporting Children Who Have a Parent Incarcerated

For immediate release: May 19, 2022 Contact: Mara Powell mpowell@kyyouth.org New Resource for Supporting Children Who Have a Parent Incarcerated Guide offers tips, resources, and conversation starters for parents, caregivers, and community members Louisville, KY — Today, Kentucky Youth Advocates and the Kentucky Social Welfare Foundation released a new guide that offers tips, resources, and conversation starters for parents, caregivers, and caring community members to consider for supporting children who have a parent incarcerated. Through [...]

Guest Blog: Updates to the Foster Youth Bill of Rights & Extended Care Policy

By Tamara Vest This year, the Voices of the Commonwealth (VOC) set policy initiatives for young people in foster care. Those initiatives included amendments to the foster youth bill of rights to promote inclusivity for young people in several ways. They also advocated for changes to Kentucky’s extended foster care policy. The initiatives were filed into Senate Bill 8, which was sponsored by Senator Julie Raque Adams and was passed by both bodies of the [...]

By |2022-05-12T09:28:35-04:00May 10th, 2022|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety|

Journey to Success: Policy Solutions to Improve Outcomes for All Youth and Young Adults Who Experience Foster Care

May is National Foster Care Awareness Month, a time to acknowledge the 463,000 children and youth in foster care and the family members, foster parents, volunteers, mentors, child welfare professionals, and policymakers who help them find permanent homes and connections. It is also a time to join forces and renew our commitment to ensuring a bright future for the over 8,800 Kentucky children in Out of Home Care (OOHC).  Along with the Partnership for America’s [...]

By |2022-05-02T16:00:08-04:00May 2nd, 2022|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Race Equity|

OP-ED: Lots of Questions for the 2022 KY General Assembly

This post originally appeared as an op-ed in the Courier Journal on April 21, 2022. By Dr. Terry Brooks In a press conference before the historic launch of Apollo 11 to the moon, Neil Armstrong was asked about the answers he hoped to discover with his moonwalk. He responded by asserting that he will likely have more questions to ask than answers. That is how I feel as we leave the 2022 Kentucky General Assembly – I have a whole bunch of [...]

Wins & Missed Opportunities for Kids in the 2022 General Assembly

The final gavel has fallen for the 2022 Kentucky General Assembly! This year, the Governor and the Kentucky General Assembly were tasked with crafting a two-year state budget, tackle redistricting, advance policies to address the COVID-19 pandemic, tax reform, and other policy priorities that would be good for the communities they represent and the Commonwealth. If we take a second to reflect, that’s a heavy lift in a long 60-day session. There was good news [...]

Deep Dive into House Bill 7 + What It Means for Kids and Families

Safety net programs, including Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), and Kentucky Transitional Assistance Program (K-TAP), play a critical role in making sure families struggling to make ends meet can have food to eat, cover basic family needs, and access critical supports and services needed to be healthy and thrive. This is especially important as new evidence emerges [...]

By |2022-04-19T16:58:54-04:00April 19th, 2022|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Health|

Parenting a Second Time Around Series for Kinship Caregivers

Norma Hatfield, president of the Kinship Families Families Coalition, and Dr. David Weisenhorn with the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Offices discuss a series of workshops offered to grandparents or other relatives and fictive kin raising children – known as PASTA, or Parenting A Second Time Around. Check out the details and video playlist below for more information on this resources for kinship families. Connect with your local Extension office to access the PASTA [...]

By |2022-04-13T17:11:07-04:00April 13th, 2022|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety|

Thriving Families, Safer Children in Kentucky

Thriving Families, Safer Children (TFSC) is a first-of-its-kind effort of the U.S. Children’s Bureau, Casey Family Programs, the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Prevent Child Abuse America. The partnership is working in 22 sites, including Kentucky, from coast to coast and a sovereign tribal nation. The Thriving Families effort seeks to demonstrate that intentional, coordinated investment in a full continuum of prevention and robust community-based networks of support will promote overall child and family well-being, [...]

By |2023-03-07T16:16:04-05:00April 12th, 2022|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety|

Foster Care Alumni Research and Advocacy: A Focus on Institutional Settings

Kentucky Youth Advocates, in partnership with Casey Family Programs and True Up Kentucky, is launching a new project focused on foster care alumni and their experiences in residential care or institutional settings* while in the child welfare system. Our researchers include foster care alumni, helping shape questions and facilitate conversations.  KYA and True Up will advocate and work for those with lived experiences in the child welfare system by lifting up their voices with the [...]

By |2022-06-08T18:27:17-04:00April 6th, 2022|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety|

Update on Priorities for Kids in the Final Days of KYGA22

The 2022 Kentucky General Assembly has wrapped up Day 58 of the 60-day legislative session and there are many key Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children wins to already celebrate. These priority bills have passed the Kentucky House and Senate and have been delivered to the Governor: Senate Bill 8 to strengthen points of the child welfare system, from child maltreatment prevention to investigation to healing and out-of-home care – signed by the Governor! Senate Bill 97 [...]

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