LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A bipartisan group of Kentucky politicians and child advocates celebrated their work on reducing child abuse and neglect rates in the commonwealth.
A new law in Kentucky aims to improve the state's child welfare system.
Kentucky ranks fifth in the nation for the number of reported child abuse and neglect cases, according to the latest data from the feds.
The U.S. Health and Human Services Child Maltreatment Report found in 2020, 17 out of every 1,000 children in the state experience some type of child maltreatment. Child advocacy experts said because of the pandemic, those numbers in 2020 were likely under-reported.
One of these new laws allows the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services to get involved in cases sooner.
The goal is to provide resources, such as substance abuse or wraparound services, to families before they lose custody of their child.
"We're able to connect with those families early before they end up in crisis, which is key to healing that family and keeping them whole," Sen. Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville, said.
This new law also expands on who can care for a child that's 12 months and younger. Now, a baby who is removed from their parent or guardian's care can be placed in the home of someone who has a close relationship with a baby's biological parent, sibling or half-sibling.
It also increases reimbursement rates for child sexual abuse exams, allowing child advocacy centers to focus on caring for children, not fundraising.
"It solves that funding gap and issue and ensures that we're going to be able to do what's necessary to seek justice for that child who deserves justice," Gov. Andy Beshear, D-Kentucky, said.
Pam Darnall, president and CEO of Family & Children's Place, said the next step is to implement this new law, part of which includes child advocacy centers reviewing all reported child abuse and neglect cases to see if any alleged victims qualify for their services.
"The data is showing us that about half of those kids are getting to us, then it's logical that it can increase the number of kids served by another 50%, which is huge," Darnall said.
Darnall said Kentucky's 15 child advocacy centers, which help children who are victims of abuse, have already started working to implement these reviews. They want to make clear, however, that this is a big task and it could take a bit of time before the review processes are completely up and running.
Another bipartisan law celebrated Wednesday was one strengthening penalties for people convicted of abusing children under 12.
"These kids deserve better than the world has given them and all of our kids deserve a better world than they're growing up in right now," Beshear said.
The new law, called Kami's Law, was named after a Louisville girl who was severely abused at just 9 months old.
"While she will continue to carry the scars of her abuse for the rest of her life, her abuser was sentenced to less than five years in prison," House Speaker David Osborne, R-Prospect, said.
Kami's Law was championed by an Oldham County 7th grader, Kiera Dunk.
Osborne, who was one of the main sponsors of the bill, said Kiera came up with the idea for this law and followed it through to the end.
Now, anyone found guilty of abusing a child 12 years or younger or someone who is physically or mentally helpless could face between 10 to 20 years in prison.
Before, the sentencing range was 5 to 10 years.
According to Kentucky Law, a person can be found guilty of criminal abuse if they cause serious physical injury to a person, place a person in a situation that may cause serious physical injury, torture a person, cruelly confine a person or cruelly punish a person.
Kentucky is a mandatory report state. That means all adults are required by law to report if they think a child is being abused or neglected.
“All of us need to make sure that we are watching and that we are speaking up and that we are fulfilling our legal duty because we all have a legal duty to report child abuse," Beshear said. "When we can educate everybody and get them to internalize that duty, just think about what we can do for the children of our commonwealth.”
Reports can be made to the state, local police or local prosecutor's office.
They can also be filed online with the CHFS, but it's recommended you use the web portal so you can document your report for your records and provide a paper trail if needed.
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