Statement on Passage of HB 3 in Senate Judiciary Committee
Marylee Underwood, staff attorney, Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs “We applaud the Kentucky Senate Judiciary Committee for taking action on human trafficking and passing House Bill 3 out of committee today. This bill will ensure that child victims get the services they need to heal and provide better resources for law enforcement officers and prosecutors. We especially appreciate the amendments offered by Chairman Whitney Westerfield and Senator Katie Stine that will further strengthen the bill." Tara Grieshop, chief policy officer, Kentucky Youth Advocates “The Senate Judiciary Committee took a great step for kids today, passing House Bill 3. We [...]
Statement on Passage of HB 290 – Child Fatality Review Panel – in Senate Health and Welfare Committee
A critical piece of legislation for children – the establishment of a review panel on child fatalities and near fatalities through HB 290 – moved one step closer to becoming law today. This measure – championed by Senator Denton and Representatives Burch and Wayne – will make a real difference in protecting children from dying due to abuse and neglect. It will provide a means to assess what we are doing well and how we can improve our practices. The bill will ensure the panel has access to full, unredacted files and that a report of its findings be released. Senate [...]
Youth Incarceration on the Decline: Kentucky Still Confining Too Many Youth for Behaviors that Aren’t a Risk to Public Safety
Jeffersontown, KY- The national rate of locking up young people in trouble with the law dropped by more than 40 percent over a 15-year period, with no decreases in public safety, according to a new report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The KIDS COUNT Data Snapshot indicates that the number of young people in correctional facilities in the United States on a single day fell to 70,792 in 2010, from a high of 107,637 in 1995. The report also shows that the overwhelming majority of confined youth in the United States are charged with offenses that do not put [...]
Statement on Passage of HB 290 in the House
Three cornerstones will determine whether House Bill 290 is effective in protecting kids from dying due to abuse and neglect – confidentiality for individuals, transparency, and independence. Today the House took an important step in putting into statute a panel focused on preventing these child deaths by passing House Bill 290. We thank Representative Burch and Representative Wayne as well as many members of the House Health and Welfare Committee for their hard work to increase confidentiality and transparency. As an example, House Bill 290 takes a critical step by giving panel members complete access to case files so they [...]
Statement on Passage of HB 3 in Kentucky House
Marylee Underwood, staff attorney, Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs “We applaud the Kentucky House of Representatives for recognizing that human trafficking is a very real problem in Kentucky and unanimously passing House Bill 3 today. This bill will ensure that child victims get the services they need to heal and provide better resources for law enforcement officers and prosecutors.” Terry Brooks, executive director, Kentucky Youth Advocates “Today, the House showed bipartisan collaboration by unanimously passing House Bill 3. We applaud primary cosponsors Representative Overly and Representative Wuchner for their work to ensure children exposed to human trafficking receive services [...]
Statement on on Passage of HB 290 in House Health and Welfare Committee
The House Health and Welfare Committee wrestled with exactly what I am on HB 290 today. On one hand, It brings us one step closer to having a permanent structure for identifying ways to prevent children from dying from abuse and neglect. As an example, this bill improves the panel's capacity to gather complete records related to the cases under review. However, I remain concerned that questions around transparency will still hover over the panel's proceedings with the way the bill is currently worded. I am especially concerned that this panel is still owned by the Executive Branch. For this [...]
Statement on Passage of HB 3 (Human Trafficking) in House Judiciary Committee
Today, the House Judiciary Committee took an important step in protecting vulnerable children and youth from human trafficking in Kentucky by passing House Bill 3. We applaud the House Judiciary Committee for standing up for children today. We also want to thank Representative Overly, Representative Wuchner and the many other co-sponsors of this bill for their leadership and commitment to this issue. Kentucky Youth Advocates, along with more than fifty organizations in Kentucky, adopted this issue as part of the 2013 Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children. The members of the Blueprint recognized the trauma inflicted on children by this terrible crime [...]
Statement on Governor Beshear’s State of the Commonwealth Address
Jeffersontown, KY-The Governor’s forward looking message gives hope to Kentucky’s kids. The broad-based agenda around revenue and adequacy is an imperative, not an option. It is an imperative it we want to protect Kentucky’s kids from abuse and neglect. It is an imperative if we want Kentucky’s kids to emerge as world-class learners. It is an imperative if we want Kentucky’s families not to feel the high price of being poor. We applaud the Governor’s call for an immediate fix to the antiquated state budget system as a means of mending the tattered safety net for kids and families in this state. [...]
Kentucky KIDS COUNT 2012 County Data Book Examines Education, Offers framework for strengthening alternative schools
Jeffersontown, KY – The 2012 County Data Book to be released today by Kentucky Youth Advocates paints a picture of the path that Kentucky students follow starting from birth to the transition to adulthood based on educational outcomes at each of those stages. This is the 22nd annual release of the County Data Book, part of the Kentucky KIDS COUNT project. The KIDS COUNT project monitors progress for Kentucky's one million children on over 100 measures of child well-being, including health, safety, economic well-being, and education. This year's book focuses on key state, county, and district-level measures of education. An [...]
Idle Teens and Young Adults: the Number of Disconnected Youth in Kentucky Jumped 49% Since 2000
Jeffersontown, KY – Nearly 6.5 million teens and young adults in the U.S., including 110,000 in Kentucky, are not enrolled in school and not employed, even part-time. These youth are veering toward a path of chronic underemployment as adults and are failing to gain the skills employers need in the 21st century, according to a new KIDS COUNT report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Many of these young people ages 16-24 face numerous obstacles, according to the report, Youth and Work: Restoring Teen and Young Adult Connections to Opportunity. Often described as disconnected youth, they have difficulty finding employment [...]