Through a partnership with Kentucky Youth Advocates, Kosair Charities®, and Casey Family Programs, First Lady Glenna Bevin invited youth and young adults from across the state with diverse backgrounds to come together as the First Lady’s Youth Leadership Council (FLYLC) to forge a common ground around three big issues that affect children in Kentucky: child welfare, child abuse and neglect, and family preservation.  My name is Cynthia Schepers and I was in foster care since the [...]

We are honored to work with First Lady Glenna Bevin on the new First Lady's Youth Leadership Council. Young leaders from across the state are working with Mrs. Bevin to change policies and practices related to the child welfare system and help more kids have a safe and loving home. As one member, Tessa, says, "The youth settling in one place and feeling comfortable and safe is what we're working for here."   The council recently met to [...]

Stacy with her husband, mother, and father November is National Adoption Month. Stacy shares her story about finding a forever family and calls on all of us to open our hearts and minds to care for young people who have been adopted. Stacy's mom, Phyllis, also wrote about her experience as an adoptive mother here. By Stacy Hildreth Ortiz My name is Stacy Hildreth Ortiz. I was adopted at the age of two [...]

November is National Adoption Month. When adoptive parents open their home, they create loving forever families across Kentucky. In this guest blog, Phyllis shares her story of adopting children  from the Special Needs Adoption program. Though they faced challenges, her family is strong and has built connections to strengthen other adoptive families. Hear from Phyllis's daughter, Stacy, here. By Phyllis Hildreth When I was young and saw pictures of orphans, I thought I would have [...]

In Kentucky, there are nearly 1,800 children with a goal of adoption as part of the plans created for them by adults making very tough decisions. Being without a family should not be part of any child’s plan. It is, however, the unfortunate reality for many children in the Commonwealth and across the United States. As we start off the month of November, a month where many make plans for family gatherings to celebrate Thanksgiving, [...]

Photo Credit: Lafayierre Mitchell, YouthBuild Louisville student By Nikkia Rhodes and Judi Jennings This summer, Nikkia Rhodes and 10 more young people participated in a five-day Summer Art Camp held at YouthBuild Louisville for friends and families with incarcerated loved ones. The Special Project created the camp as a way to address the impacts of incarceration that the Annie E. Casey Foundation describes in a recent report, A Shared Sentence: The Devastating Toll [...]

Children should never be just numbers in a report. Especially when those numbers are about kids who have died or suffered serious injury as a result of abuse or neglect. Every child deserves to be safe from harm, yet the sad reality is that many kids are not. Last week the Department for Community Based Services (DCBS) released their annual report on child fatalities and near fatalities due to abuse and neglect. The report looks at several [...]