This week on our Advocate Virtual Forum, we discuss the 2021 Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children state policy priorities, which seeks to address child health, safety, education, families’ economic security, and more. Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers also joins the forum for a look ahead to the 2021 Kentucky General Assembly.
As the commonwealth works to overcome the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and address systemic racism, the Blueprint speaks with a common voice to create brighter futures for all Kentucky kids and their families. View the 2021 priorities and fact sheets for additional information.
Thank you to Aetna Better Health of Kentucky for supporting the Making Kids Count podcast. Visit AetnaMedicaidKY.com/choose to learn more about their health care benefits and programs designed with your family’s wellbeing in mind.
The KY Presumptive 50/50 Parenting Law passed April 14, 2017 is currently causing children to be mentally traumatized, and mothers are being denied Reproductive Justice (the right to parent their children). Children are being court ordered to live one week in their mother’s home and one week in their father’s home. This law is currently being used by many fathers to reduce or eliminate their responsibility of paying child support. The notion of “best interest of the child” is no longer the standard for Family Court Judges. Instead, fathers’ special interest take priority in a court decision that results in the child being traumatized. This law was passed with the financial backing and support of the National Parents Organization, formerly known as the, “Foundation for Fathers and Families” also formerly known as, “Fathers and Families.” The law needs to be changed expeditiously to allow Judges to rule in the “best interest of children.”