Children
Auditor’s office calls Beshear’s ‘hope’ to ‘work through’ database dispute ‘disingenuous’
Gov. Andy Beshear said he hopes his administration and state Auditor Allison Ball’s office “can work through” access issues around a database in a Thursday press conference.? Earlier this week, Ball, a Republican, sent a “demand letter” to Beshear, a Democrat, and Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Eric Friedlander over access to the […]
Kentucky auditor, cabinet clash over access to child abuse database as new law takes effect
FRANKFORT — The legislature last year moved responsibility for a watchdog office and child support enforcement from the Beshear administration to Republican officeholders.? Barely out of the gate, one of the transitions is stumbling over a disagreement about access to a child abuse database.? Republican Auditor of Public Accounts Allison Ball on Tuesday sent what […]
‘Tip of the iceberg:’ Kentucky releases domestic violence data report
If you or someone you know has experienced domestic violence, call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233.? You can also contact any of Kentucky’s 15 domestic violence programs.? Over a seven-month period last year, there were nearly 27,000 alleged cases of child abuse with a […]
For child care workers, state aid for their own kids’ care is ‘life-changing’
SMITHFIELD, R.I. — Child care worker Marci Then, 32, looked over at two 4-year-olds in her care who were tussling over a toy plate in a model kitchen set. “Are we sharing?” she gently asked them. They both let go. Then works at Little Learners Academy child care center near Providence, Rhode Island. Her daughter, […]
‘Flabbergasted:’ Help for kinship care families passed unanimously. $20M price tag could derail it.
A funding dispute between Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and Republican lawmakers threatens to delay long-awaited financial relief for grandparents and other kinship caregivers who are raising children in Kentucky.? Beshear signed and says he supports a new law that allows relatives who take temporary custody of a child, when abuse or neglect is suspected, to […]
US Supreme Court review of gender-affirming care for youth could impact Kentucky law
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to review a challenge to Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth could have implications for a similar law in Kentucky.? The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Lambda Legal asked the court to review the Tennessee law after a ruling by the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. […]
Trauma, poverty, COVID-19 causing high rates of chronic absenteeism in Kentucky?
The number of Kentucky youth who are chronically absent from school skyrocketed during the 2022-2023 school year.? The reasons for chronic absenteeism are interconnected and complicated — and the negative fallout potential is widespread, from mental health to the economy.? Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) staff and child welfare advocates point to the COVID-19 pandemic, […]
Multiplying trauma: Kentucky set to add more kids to its troubled juvenile jails
A state law taking effect next month will require more kids charged with violent offenses to be held in Kentucky’s troubled juvenile jails — at a time when all eight of the youth detention centers are under federal investigation for possible abuses. That worries Devine Carama, who directs the One Lexington program to tackle gun […]
Kentuckians invited to June town halls on helping families with substance use complications
Kentuckians with ideas to improve outcomes for children placed in foster care because of substance use complications will get the chance to share them during a series of town halls this June, the Administrative Office of the Courts announced Wednesday.? Registration is required for the four virtual town halls, which Citizen Foster Care Review Boards […]
Juvenile justice: ‘From nothing to something and then right back to nothing’
The mood was celebratory as Kentucky and federal officials crowded into the Capitol Rotunda on a cold January day in 2001 to announce the end of five years of federal oversight of the state’s problem-ridden juvenile justice system. “We’re never going to slide back to where we were in 1995,” said then-Juvenile Justice Commissioner Ralph […]
Pertussis outbreak in Lexington spans ages, most dangerous for babies
The Lexington-Fayette County Health Department is reporting an outbreak of pertussis, which is commonly called whooping cough and is a highly contagious respiratory illness.? The department said it’s confirmed nine cases since late April, including a case at Lafayette High School, one at St. Peter and Paul Catholic School and a community member in their […]
The number of births continues to fall, despite abortion bans
Births continued a historic slide in all but two states last year, making it clear that a brief post-pandemic uptick in the nation’s birth numbers was all about planned pregnancies that had been delayed temporarily by COVID-19. Only Tennessee and North Dakota had small increases in births from 2022 to 2023, according to a Stateline […]