Children
Breaking the Stigma: Postpartum depression is lonely. Shame, guilt make it worse.?
This story discusses postpartum depression and suicide. If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, please call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.? Before having children, Chan Kemper pictured how the experience would go.? “I was determined to have the hippiest, dippiest, crunchy, earth goddess pregnancies and deliveries that I could […]
Roundtable explores ways to improve Kentucky maternal health
LOUISVILLE — Maternal health is complicated, and reducing mortality around birth takes a comprehensive approach, advocates from across Kentucky said at a Thursday roundtable moderated by Carole Johnson, the administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration for the Biden administration. During the roundtable, which took place at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Louisville, Johnson […]
Former KY Gov. Matt Bevin’s adopted son reportedly removed from abusive facility in Jamaica
As Kentucky governor, Matt Bevin said his overriding goal was to reform what he said was the state’s “broken machine” of an adoption and foster care system. “This is the driving reason why I made the decision to run, because it needs to be fixed,” Bevin said in a 2017 interview on KET. In that […]
How to improve foster care in Kentucky to be subject of virtual town halls. Public invited.
The public is invited to virtual town hall meetings this month to discuss how to improve outcomes for Kentucky families and children in the foster care system. The meetings are hosted by Citizen Foster Care Review Boards. The first regional meeting was Aug. 1. Others will be held Aug, 6, 13 and 16. Registration is […]
Kentucky lawmakers hear about efforts to resolve dispute over access to abuse, neglect records
FRANKFORT — Kentucky’s Cabinet for Health and Family Services and the state auditor’s office said Tuesday they are open to entering a memorandum of understanding to ensure the office of the ombudsman has the access it needs to a computer system that stores information about abuse and neglect cases.? The two parties are still hashing […]
Republicans slam administration for not carrying out laws that Beshear says legislature didn’t fund
FRANKFORT — Kentucky Republican lawmakers slammed the Beshear administration Tuesday for “picking and choosing” what laws to implement amid funding disputes that threaten 2024 laws to help kinship care families and create a statewide child abuse reporting system.? Eric Friedlander, the secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, repeatedly told lawmakers during the […]
Welcome move to boost child protection in Kentucky trips over conflicting views of the law
Increasingly worried about suspected abuse of her young grandson, Michelle Tynes said she battled for years with Kentucky social service workers to act on what she said was the deplorable situation in the Western Kentucky home where he and four other children lived. “I made multiple reports,” said Tynes, who eventually won full custody of […]
Whooping cough outbreak ‘a stark reminder’ of decline in vaccinations among Kentucky kids
Kentucky’s outbreak of whooping cough comes amid a decline in childhood vaccinations, which a health insurance industry group is looking to combat by funding a messaging campaign to address vaccine hesitancy and increase immunization rates.? “This outbreak is a stark reminder of what can happen when immunization rates fall,” Tom Stevens, the president of the […]
U.S. appeals court agrees to block central part of new Title IX gender rules for schools
A federal appellate court has upheld blocking central parts of new Title IX rules from the Biden administration and granted an expedited hearing in October.? A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed Wednesday to block the rules from taking effect Aug. 1, shortly before most schools begin their academic year. […]
Kentucky ranks low in women’s health and reproductive care
As the worst of COVID-19 subsided in 2022 and a trigger law banning most abortions went into effect upon the fall of Roe v. Wade, Kentucky was already among the worst-performing states for women’s health.? This insight comes from The Commonwealth Fund’s 2024 State Scorecard on Women’s Health and Reproductive Care, a first-of-its kind ranking […]
In a win for dogs like Ethan, first offense animal torture now a felony in Kentucky
Legislators and advocates who pushed for years to make dog and cat torture a felony on first offense gathered in the Capitol Rotunda Tuesday to celebrate a new Kentucky law that does just that.? House Bill 258, also called Ethan’s Law, allows a person to be charged with a Class D felony the first and […]
Kentucky panel that reviews child deaths has full board for first time in several years
If you suspect child abuse or neglect, call the Cabinet for Health and Family Services Child Abuse Reporting Hotline at 1-800-752-6200.? Kentucky’s Child Fatality and Near Fatality External Review Panel has a full complement of members for the first time in several years, analysts told members of the Legislative Oversight & Investigations Committee Thursday. For […]