Dear Nash, This is a hard letter for me to write. You are so small—only four months old—and I cannot stand to think of anything bad happening to you. But it’s my job to keep you safe, and I take that job very seriously. It’s my responsibility to buckle you in your car seat, put you to sleep on your back, and childproof our house. It’s also my responsibility to teach you to value your [...]
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 [...]
Ending child abuse and neglect requires transparency of data, procedures, protocols, and policies in the systems with which vulnerable children interact, such as the child welfare, education, and justice systems. Over the last few years, we at Kentucky Youth Advocates have been concerned with the often lack of transparency and accountability of these systems and the impact this has on the protection of children. Recently, however, some positive movements give me hope when it comes [...]
We know that what gets measured gets changed. In this past weekend's Forum in the Courier-Journal, readers were able to hear various community members' perspectives about issues impacting children and how data can be a driver for change. We thank the Greater Louisville Project and the Courier-Journal for recognizing the role data plays in bettering outcomes for children in Louisville and across Kentucky. The Forum featured six op-eds focused on the safety, health, justice, economic security, and education of children [...]
To help us understand the keys to child abuse prevention, we must understand how to reduce risk factors in families and communities and how to promote protective factors. Many people are familiar with the factors that can increase the risk of child abuse, including substance use, mental health issues, domestic violence, a lack of understanding of child development, social isolation, as well as several others. The other side of the coin that is important to [...]
The best Christmas gift ever? My son, Nash, who was born a few months ago on Christmas Day. Immediately, my world was rocked. Mostly, of course, in a good way; my love for Nash is unexpectedly beautiful and boundless. But at the same time, I found myself tackling the most difficult job I’d ever had. Even though other parents had told me how hard those first few weeks would be, nothing can prepare a new [...]
There's no better way to begin celebrating Child Abuse Prevention Month than with the passage of legislation to protect young victims of abuse. We applaud the Kentucky House and Senate for passing SB 60, sponsored by Senator Whitney Westerfield, to better protect child victims of repeated abuse. Children often find it difficult to remember specific details of each incident of abuse, yet they can recount the abuse that occurred. This bill will accommodate a child’s more generalized [...]
What better way is there to kick off Child Abuse Prevention Month than to rally behind preventing and ending child abuse with state and local leaders and advocates? Yesterday, Kentucky Youth Advocates joined Family & Children’s Place and the Kosair Charities Face It® Movement at the foot of the Big Four Bridge in Louisville at the annual Rally to End Child Abuse. We applaud Family & Children’s Place for hosting the annual event that welcomed [...]
We know that youth in Kentucky are key to creating positive change for kids, and their leadership galvanizes other youth, parents, educators, community leaders, and legislators. In the Kentucky Youth Speak Up series, students advocate for policies, encourage other youth to serve their communities, promote strategies for student success, and motivate all of us to build the best commonwealth for Kentucky kids. By Morgan Guess Morgan with Representative Derrick Graham and Senator Mike Wilson. I [...]
Several years ago, the Kentucky legislature took action to address an issue that galvanized support from groups like the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and the County Judge Executive Association, as well as all three of Kentucky’s branches of government. It was the rising prison population and the associated costs. While legislation was passed with the aim to safely reduce incarceration, the impacts of Kentucky’s recent history of high incarceration remain. Approximately 13 percent of Kentucky [...]
