FacebookInstagramXYouTubeEmail

Good news, bad news for Kentucky’s kids

The 2013 National KIDS COUNT Data Book released today by the Annie E. Casey Foundation paints a fairly comprehensive picture of how Kentucky’s children and youth are faring and tells us whether Kentucky has been moving in the right direction on important indicators of child well-being. The Data Book measures child well-being through 16 indicators, with 4 indicators in each of these 4 domains: economic well-being, education, health, and family and community. What is quickly [...]

By |2013-06-24T16:56:40-04:00June 24th, 2013|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education, Health|
Read More

Become a volunteer with KY’s Citizen Review Panels

Are you looking for a way to improve the lives of children and families in Kentucky as well as those who serve them? Kentucky's Citizen Review Panels for Child Protective Services are currently seeking volunteers. The Panels are groups of volunteers who are federally mandated to review Kentucky’s child protection system and make recommendations for improvements in policy, practice, and procedure.  Citizen Review Panels are located in the Southern Bluegrass (Lexington and surrounding counties) and [...]

By |2013-06-10T14:03:49-04:00June 10th, 2013|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety|
Read More

Kinship care support doesn’t make it easier, it helps to make it possible

I got to know some of the best Kentuckians you could ever meet at last week’s public hearing on the cuts to kinship care and child care subsidies. I had the privilege of driving to Frankfort with Phyllis, a 63 year old grandmother who is stepping up to raise her 16 month and 3 year old granddaughters, both who were born addicted to cocaine. As the married mother of two girls the same age, I [...]

By |2013-05-30T14:56:48-04:00May 30th, 2013|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security|
Read More

Want to Engage Your City in Safe Routes to School? Register for an Upcoming FREE Webinar.

On Thursday, June 20, from 2-3 p.m. Eastern, the Safe Routes to School National Partnership is hosting a free webinar: Maximizing City Involvement in Safe Routes to School: Educating Municipal Transportation Departments Register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/2966698222397818112 Municipal transportation departments work to move people safely from one place to the other no matter how they choose to get there. Safe Routes to School practitioners should connect with transportation departments to affect long- and short-term planning and to ensure [...]

By |2013-05-28T10:24:55-04:00May 28th, 2013|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Health|
Read More

Gov. Beshear Needs to Reverse Cuts to Kinship Care and Child Care Assistance

This post originally appeared as an op-ed in the Courier Journal on May 22, 2013. You can find it online here. It was not as dramatic as scenes in Frankfort can be. There was neither a gallery of cameras nor the moment of confrontation between elected leaders. But on Tuesday, a very important event took place in Frankfort. The Cabinet for Health and Family Services held a public hearing regarding the recent cuts to kinship [...]

By |2013-05-22T10:41:35-04:00May 22nd, 2013|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education|
Read More

Poverty Today is the Polio of the 1950s

  Clasp.org discusses the polio epidemic of the 1950s that crippled tens of thousands of people every year – and was eliminated by 1979 due to a massive public health effort. The post also highlights that the Academic Pediatric Association (APA) Task Force on Childhood Poverty recently declared that childhood poverty is on par with polio in the 1950s as the most important problem facing American children today. While the APA Task Force acknowledges that there is no [...]

By |2013-05-21T10:38:10-04:00May 21st, 2013|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education, Health|
Read More

Consider Investing Today – Every $1 You Invest in Advocacy Provides a Return of $115 in Community Benefits

A few weeks ago, we met the grandparents pictured left, who have taken on the role of raising their 4-year old grandchild. This scenario of grandparents and relatives raising their kin is becoming more and more common in Kentucky. In fact, estimates suggest there are approximately 63,000 children across the state being cared for by relatives other than their parents. The state recently stopped accepting new applications for the Kinship Care Program which supports people, [...]

By |2013-05-16T11:48:35-04:00May 16th, 2013|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety|
Read More

Complete Streets are Safe for Everyone

Over the past couple of years, I've had the pleasure of working with the Kentucky Heart Foundation and the Ashland Boyd County Health Department as they aim to make streets safer and friendlier to all users of the road. I've been so impressed with how the small communities in this area are stepping up and promoting complete streets. Complete streets involve building and designing roads to accommodate all users, and, in turn, can increase opportunities [...]

By |2013-05-13T10:00:47-04:00May 13th, 2013|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Health|
Read More

A Sure-Fire Bet for Kentucky Kids

When it comes to March Madness, I think I am an expert.  I look at every rating system known to mankind.  I compare offensive and defensive efficiencies of each team.  I analyze the relative strength of every conference.  And the result?  Well, all four granddaughters beat me (and the two youngest are only three years old!) but I did edge out my four year old grandson in our family bracketology contest!  When it comes to [...]

By |2013-05-02T11:55:19-04:00May 2nd, 2013|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education, Health, Youth Justice|
Read More

Kids, Families and State Budget Debates

There is a swirl of speculation about the topic.  Is the Governor going to call a special session, and – if so – what will be on “the call?”  Or what are the priorities emerging at this very moment in Cabinet-level planning for the 2014-16 budget? Any talk about budgets offers us both hope and worry.  Will it spotlight the very real need for fundamental and systemic changes in the state’s tax and budget structures [...]

By |2013-04-25T11:04:15-04:00April 25th, 2013|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Economic Security, Education|
Read More
Go to Top