This is part of Kentucky Youth Advocates’ series on the federal landscape and the impacts on Kentucky children and families. 

As Congress moves forward with this year’s federal budget, some long-standing child safety programs are facing major reductions or being eliminated altogether. While some of these cuts are still being debated in Congress, others have already gone into effect through recent executive decisions. These shifts affect the programs that help keep kids safe and supported and reflect a larger trend of scaling back federal investments in public health, child welfare, and prevention efforts.

What Programs Are Affected?

Safe Sleep and SUID Prevention Efforts

The national office behind the Safe to Sleep campaign has closed, cutting off a key source of materials and guidance on safe sleep practices for infants. With this resource gone, many families and health providers may no longer have easy access to consistent and research-backed information, despite an increase in sudden unexpected infant death (SUID) cases nationally.

In Kentucky, hospitals and pediatric providers have relied on national safe sleep campaigns to guide families in creating safe environments for babies. Without continued support, fewer families may receive this critical information. Despite the commonwealth seeing 13 child deaths and 4 near deaths linked to unsafe sleep settings in FY 2023, according to the 2024 Child Fatality and Near Fatality Review Panel.

Court-Appointed Special Advocates (CASA)

The U.S. Department of Justice has ended around $49 million in funding for the National CASA/Guardian ad Litem (GAL) Association. That funding helped provide training and support to local CASA programs across the country, including those in Kentucky. These programs recruit and prepare community volunteers to advocate for children involved in dependency, neglect or abuse court cases.

The Kentucky CASA Network has stated that services across the state will continue thanks to strong support from state and local funders. However, some local programs have shared that the loss of national-level funding may impact how many children they can serve. In 2024, nearly 1,400 volunteers worked with more than 3,300 children across 97 Kentucky counties. Keeping that effort going takes consistent investment in training and staffing.

Public Health Infrastructure

Federal officials have eliminated over $12 billion in grants that supported things like mental health services, vaccination programs, and emergency response efforts. Additional reductions to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have also been proposed, including major cuts to agencies like the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Kentucky’s public health infrastructure is facing significant challenges due to the elimination of around $149 million in federal grants. These cuts impact essential services such as childhood vaccinations, suicide prevention, community health worker programs, and substance use  treatment services. For example, funding reductions have led to delays in vaccine orders, halted key outreach programs, and affected staffing at youth drop-in centers and crisis hotlines. These services are vital for maintaining the health and well-being of communities across the state.

What Could This Mean Moving Forward?

Without restored funding, Kentucky families could face:

  • Less access to safe sleep materials and public education campaigns
  • Reduced capacity for CASA programs to meet demand
  • Fewer local health services that prevent illness and support children’s well-being

These programs are part of the broader network that keeps kids safe, healthy, and supported as they grow.

What’s Next?

The federal budget process is still ongoing and there is still time for advocates and families to take action. Kentuckians can contact their federal representatives and ask them to:

  • Restore funding for CASA and other child advocacy programs
  • Reinvest in safe sleep and infant mortality prevention efforts
  • Protect the grants that help states provide basic health and safety services

Photo by Lucila De Avila Castilho via Dreamstime