Contact:
Mara Powell
mpowell@kyyouth.org
Statement from Dr. Terry Brooks, executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates
LOUISVILLE, KY – There’s no doubt that Kentucky’s kinship and fictive caregivers are the often-unsung heroes for thousands of kids across the Commonwealth – stepping up in a moment’s notice to provide a safe space for their young loved ones to grow and heal. While Kentucky provides financial assistance to relative or fictive kin caregivers who choose to become certified foster parents through DCBS, that decision is currently only offered up once at the initial conversation – which is often plagued with confusion.
Senate Bill 151, championed by Senator Julie Raque Adams, seeks to close that gap in potential access to supports by allowing a relative or fictive kin caregiver to apply at any time to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to be certified as a child-specific foster home. It also would grant the young people themselves a say in where they are placed upon removal from their home.
With the unanimous passage of SB 151 by the Kentucky Senate today, this important piece of legislation now moves to the House for consideration. We thank Senator Raque Adams for her commitment to kinship families with SB 151 and the Senate for their support in its advancement.
From Norma Hatfield, president of Kinship Families Coalition of Kentucky:
“I am so grateful to Senator Julie Raque Adams for her bold championship of kinship families and foster youth. She heard the issues and quickly did a bill and took action. Senate Bill 151 works towards making things a little less traumatic and more humane in a system that can be complex, rigid, and emotionally challenging. Today, we have a bi-partisan bill with more co-sponsors, and we have a room full of champions who unanimously voted to support children and families. Amazing things happen when we all focus on doing the right thing.”
Stay up-to-date on Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children priorities and other bills that are good for kids on our Kentucky General Assembly Bill Tracker.
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About Kentucky Youth Advocates
Kentucky Youth Advocates believes all children deserve to be safe, healthy, and secure. As THE independent voice for Kentucky’s children, we work to ensure policymakers create investments and policies that are good for children. Learn more at www.kyyouth.org.
HB151 is a stepping stone towards equal treatment for kin ship families. However there is still a gap of equal treatment and benefits for kids in kinship care. Kids in kinship care do not age out of kinship care , they just grow up and are expected to fly without any assistance from the cabinet. kids in kin ship care are ineligible for the education assistance provided to kids who age out of foster care. what a gift this could be to a child . A way to break free from the circumstances that put them in kinship care.
It’s shameful and discriminatory .