Important Bills for Children Passed this Week: It’s Time for Thank Yous

The legislative session began winding to a close this week, and Tuesday marked two significant wins for Kentucky children. Two policy items identified by child advocates as priorities for the 2013 session on the Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children won final passage by the legislature and are on their way to the Governor for his signature. On Tuesday, the legislature passed HB 3 - a bill to address human trafficking and ensure child victims of trafficking [...]

By |2013-03-14T12:11:41-04:00March 14th, 2013|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety|

Statement on Passage of HB 290 (Child Fatality Review Panel) in Kentucky Legislature

Today marks a significant step forward in protecting children from dying due to abuse or neglect in Kentucky. HB 290, which puts into law a panel to review child abuse deaths, passed out of the General Assembly today and now heads to the Governor for his signature. The child fatality review panel will help us learn from our mistakes and improve practices in the child welfare system to prevent future child abuse deaths. It will help [...]

By |2013-03-12T18:11:52-04:00March 12th, 2013|News Room|

Statement on Passage of HB 290 (Child Fatality Review Panel) in Senate

The Senate stood strong for Kentucky kids today, passing HB 290 to create a child fatality review panel. Senator Denton and primary cosponsors Representative Burch and Representative Wayne are to be commended for this strong bipartisan effort to make sure Kentucky's most vulnerable kids are safe. The bill puts into law a panel that can make a real difference in the battle against child abuse by ensuring we know what is working and what isn’t. [...]

By |2013-03-07T23:20:42-05:00March 7th, 2013|News Room|

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 [...]

By |2013-03-06T11:09:47-05:00March 6th, 2013|News Room|

Senate: Support fatality review panel

This post originally appeared as a Letter to the Editor in the Courier Journal on February 27, 2013 A critical bill now stands before the Senate that would create a child fatality and near fatality review panel. The creation of this panel would be one of the biggest steps forward our state can take to identify trends and solutions to address child deaths and near deaths that occur as a result of abuse and neglect. [...]

By |2013-02-27T08:38:29-05:00February 27th, 2013|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety|

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 [...]

By |2013-02-22T10:53:26-05:00February 22nd, 2013|News Room|

State Needs More Independent Review of Child-Abuse Cases

This post originally appeared as an Op-Ed in the Herald Leader here. A million years ago, when I was a high school student in Jefferson County, schools were overcrowded to the point where 200 to 300 students were clustered in an auditorium or cafeteria to watch instructional television as the means of teaching. Because of those outrageous student/teacher ratios, we frequently graded our own papers. Maybe it was just me, but a trend line emerged: My grades [...]

By |2013-02-13T09:01:37-05:00February 13th, 2013|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety|

Safe Harbor for Kentucky’s Children

Guest Post by Gretchen Hunt, Training Coordinator, Kentucky Association of Sexual Assault Programs The statistics are staggering.  Nationally, between 100,000 and 300,000 children are vulnerable to being trafficked into commercial sex in the United States. Runaways and homeless youth are particularly vulnerable, with one in three being exploited in commercial sex in the first 48 hours of being on the streets.  The average age of entry into prostitution in this country is between twelve and [...]

By |2013-02-11T07:38:41-05:00February 11th, 2013|Blog, Child Welfare & Safety, Youth Justice|

Children’s Advocacy Day 2013: When it comes to kids, do we have courage?

The weatherman cooperated.  Citizens from throughout the Commonwealth – hundreds of them – showed up.  The atmospherics were great – the Blue Apple Players performing a scene from “Lincoln”; a high school dance team jazzing up the scene; and, young people talking about public policy issues like human trafficking and a smoke-free environment  that count in their lives.  And the 9th Children’s Advocacy Day kicked off. The sun may have been shining bright on our [...]

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 [...]

By |2013-02-06T21:00:26-05:00February 6th, 2013|News Room|
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