FRANKFORT, Ky. — Legislation aimed at improving Kentucky's child welfare system advanced out of a Senate committee Wednesday.
For the fifth year in a row, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report found Kentucky ranked fourth in the nation for the number of child abuse and neglect cases reported.
In 2020, the report found 16.7 per 1,000 children in Kentucky were victims of abuse or neglect. Maine, Alaska and West Virginia ranked above Kentucky that year. From 2017 to 2019, Kentucky outranked all other states for the number of child victims reported annually.
Sen. Julie Raque Adams, a Republican from Louisville, is sponsoring Senate Bill 8 to help lower that rate.
She said if approved, the measure would allow the Department for Community Based Services (DCBS) to open cases earlier.
Instead of requiring a child to be designated as "at-risk" of requiring out-of-home placement, DCBS would be able to get involved if a child was found to be at "moderate risk".
"This is a key provision to preventing child abuse and neglect," Raque Adams said. "Our laws have to allow for the ability for DCBS and community partners before the abuse and neglect occurs. So with this change to moderate, this is really significant because we can get in there and help this family heal so that we can keep that family whole. "
The bill would also let foster kids stay in the system longer.
At age 20, a person could opt in or out of extending their commitment, which would allow them to keep certain benefits. Right now, young adults aren't able to extend their commitment after their 19th birthday.
Foster care advocates said that support is vital for many young adults.
"I just want to make sure we're setting up these individuals — these young adults that have been through the foster care system — to be successful adults and citizens in the commonwealth," said Tamra Vest.
Vest, who is an independent living coordinator at Murray State University, also spent nine years in the foster care system. Vest said she aged out of foster care at 18, thinking she was ready to live on her own, but quickly realized she wasn't ready.
"I was that hard-headed 18-year-old who had been through years of foster care, had my life controlled and was ready to be in control of my own life and my own decisions," Vest said. "I learned very quickly over the next year that it is so hard when you age out of foster care without those supports and those connections."
Vest said she applied to extend her commitment on her 19th birthday, but was told no. In order to qualify, she needed to have applied one day earlier.
"The statute says an individual who recommits to the state is able to stay until they are 21," Vest said. "I am not understanding why we are capping their decision to return at age 19."
Another key part of that child welfare reform legislation would change the definition of abuse and neglect to ensure poverty alone isn't considered a reason to find a parent or guardian unfit for caring for their child.
The bill would also change Kentucky's Medicaid reimbursement policy for child medical evaluations at child advocacy centers. If approved, these centers, which help children impacted by abuse, would be reimbursed for the true and actual cost of the evaluations performed.
The bill made it out of a Senate committee Wednesday with unanimous support. It will now go to the full Senate for consideration.
If approved, the House will still need to act on it before it could go to the governor's desk.
Contact reporter Rachel Droze at rdroze@whas11.com. Follow her on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
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