Support Kentucky Youth

Community partners make Christmas special

While the decorations have been put up for another year and the holiday season fades into memory, we at Sunrise Children’s Services would like to take a moment to thank those who made this a wonderful Christmas for the children in our care.

Around the state, many churches, organizations, businesses and individuals stepped up to make sure that the children we serve through foster care, residential programs and community-based services had a memorable Christmas. Each of the more than 500 children in our care had the opportunity to enjoy a holiday meal and had presents to open thanks to the generosity of others. For many of these kids, this was their first Christmas experience.

That list includes some special people in your community. We’d like to thank the businesses and groups below for their donations that made it possible for all the children of Sunrise to enjoy a Merry Christmas.

Sunrise has a legacy of caring for children that dates back to 1869, but our efforts are only made possible because of the support of people like these who go the extra mile to make a difference in the life of a child.

Danville
Danville Firefighters
Wal-Mart Danville
Perryville Baptist Church

Somerset
Oakwood in Somerset

London
Laurel County UNITE Coalition
Corinth Baptist WMU
Regency 7 Cinema 7
Dino’s Restaurant
Wal-Mart
EKU Student Government
EKU Criminal Justice Association

Painstville
First Baptist Church
Meally Church of Christ
East Point Church of Christ
First Baptist Church WMU
Heather Wells – River, KY

Morehead
First Church of God
Wal-Mart in Morehead
Buffalo Wild Wings
Living Word Church

Ashland
2nd Freewill Baptist Church

Covington
Calvary Baptist Church

Wallingford, KY
Oak Ridge Baptist

Winchester
Central Baptist Church
Lenoxburg, KY (Bracken Co.-  Brooksville, KY)
Lenoxburg Baptist Church

Erlanger
Erlanger Baptist Church

Lexington
Cornerstone Baptist Church
Tempurpedic-donated gifts to PRTF residents and a foster child
Lexington Green Mall Management – allowed our angel tree in their mall

Louisville
Beargrass Baptist Church
WJIE – Louisville – donated concert tickets for a Christmas concert
Shively Baptist Church – gifts
Lifeway Christian Books – donated CDs and stuffed bears
Beargrass Christian Church Genesis Sunday School Class - gifts

Cynthiana
Kiwanis Club of Cynthiana – check for $50

Warfield (Martin Co – Inez)
Warfield Missionary Baptist Church

Prestonsburg
Enterprise Baptist WMU
Tom and Berniece Westfall
B&S Oil and Gas, Harold, KY
First Baptist Church, Prestonsburg
Melissa McGuire

Pikeville
Mayflower Unity Baptist Church
First Victory Baptist Church – Mouthcard
Donald and Joan Newsome
B.F. Johnson
Carolyn Hoppe
Ann McConnell
Mary Frona Justice
Tony R. and Connie J. Casebolt
The Elliott Company
Jill Darko
First Baptist Church Pre-school
Team Darren Irrick – Appalachian Wireless
Elliott Contracting
Hellier Baptist Church
Christ Central School

Salyersville
First Baptist Church

Shepherdsville
Mt. Washington Baptist Church
Mt. Moriah Baptist Church – Lebanon Junction
River View Baptist Church – Cox’s Creek

Elizabethtown
Franklin Crossroads Baptist Church, Cecilia
Social Security Administration
Red Hill Baptist Church, Vine Grove
Eric Oliver
AGC Automotive
Rotary Club

Radcliff
Fort Knox Military Community
Abundant Life Church, Radcliff

Owensboro
Olive Garden
Jones ATA Black Belt Academy
Staff of Sandy Dawdy, PVA
Envision Contracting
Westerfield Electric
Staff of Green River Area Development District
Kevin Wilson Plumbing
Maceo Baptist Church
Friendship Baptist Church – toys and clothing

Paducah
Heartland Worship Center
Region Foster Care children. The youth in the church also sponsored an additional 10 teens in foster care.
Paducah Recycling Center

Grayson
Cintas Corporation

Olive Hill (Carter Co)
Stark Methodist Church

A black and blue Spring

April brings the beginning of spring – flowering trees and warmer weather, my favorite season. April also brings National Child Abuse Prevention Month. Child abuse is not something we think about with the bright colors of spring or the hope of a new season. Black and blue are not colors we associate with spring. Sunrise Children’s Services works diligently every day to bring the hope and promise of spring into Kentucky’s black and blue kids.

April will come and go, but the tragedy and hopelessness of child abuse continues to affect over 15,000 children in Kentucky annually. Sunrise serves an average 500 of these children daily. You could say that every month is Child Abuse Prevention Month for Sunrise.

The children we serve come from homes that model problem solving by hitting spouses and children and abusing drugs and alcohol. Joe came to Sunrise’s Crossroads Treatment Center in Elizabethtown having seen his father beat his mother during drunken rages. Joe began to mimic the behavior he witnessed. After several weeks of the staff at Crossroads working with Joe, sharing appropriate ways to handle his anger, he began to change. As he learned how to begin breaking the cycle of abuse, Joe learned to be more respectful. His father joined him in counseling helping them begin a new relationship.

This is just one of hundreds of examples of the children who come into our care receiving a sense of hope and new beginnings. When the cycle of abuse is broken, generations to come are spared the pain and our society benefits as well.

April shouldn’t be the only month that we try to prevent child abuse. It should be every day of every month in every church and neighborhood. Child abuse is not contained to one part of town. We invite you to join us in being the answer to this issue that plagues many of Kentucky’s children. Help us be a part of the beginning of spring and new hope for a young person’s life.

Please visit our secure Web site at www.sunrise.org and make a tax-deductible donation. As you support the work of Sunrise Children’s Services, you are supporting the change in individual young lives and the hundreds of lives these children will touch in the future. When we reduce child abuse in Kentucky, everyone benefits. Please send a generous gift today!

Letter to the editor: One is a losing number for Kentucky's kids

It was distressing to read Deborah Yetter’s story last week (October 20, 2009, Courier-Journal, "Kentucky leads nation in rate of child abuse and neglect deaths, study finds") about Kentucky ranking highest in child deaths caused by abuse and neglect. Even more distressing was knowing that the data on which the story was based came from 2007, before major cuts in the child-protection budget were enacted. Unfortunately, more cuts loom – which hardly bodes well for the future.

The glimmer of hope in all this is that private providers such as Sunrise Children’s Services are working in partnership with the state Department for Community Based Services to move toward a more preventive service model.

Providing in-home services are not only more effective than fixing a broken home later, it also costs thousands of dollars less per family. In-home services can cost as little as one-fifth the cost of out-of-home care.

Many times a family in turmoil needs a relatively minor assist to stop the cycle of abuse or neglect – parenting classes, job-skills upgrades, or budgeting lessons. Other times more intensive services are required, such as substance-abuse treatment or other therapies. The point is to keep children in their homes when possible, with supervision and personalized treatment plans that enable families to function more safely and effectively.

Serving families retroactively, on the other hand, often means long legal processes, institutional care, and the prosecution and incarceration of offending adults, all of which costs a lot of money.

Sunrise has been keeping Kentucky’s children safe since 1869, when many families were torn apart by the Civil War, poverty or disease. Today our faith-based organization annually serves more than 2,000 children across the state through a full continuum of care, including residential treatment, crisis stabilization, therapeutic foster homes, adoption services and family counseling centers.

We stand ready to help Kentucky take a bold new approach to child abuse and neglect to ensure that we can move Kentucky away from national disgrace and into God’s grace.

Bill Smithwick
President & CEO
Sunrise Children’s Services

Alicia Pedreira, et al v. Kentucky Baptist Homes for Children, et al

The Sixth Circuit’s ruling upheld the lower courts decision, in our favor, on the employment discrimination and federal taxpayer standing claims. The reversal of the lower court’s decision on state taxpayer standing is confusing to us. We believe this ruling is inconsistent with related case law and will appeal. The plaintiff’s argument that we “coerce” children to become “Baptists” is, in our opinion, more of a strategy to harm us primarily because of our traditional family values than perceived religious indoctrination. Our mission to help victimized children heal from obscene abuse and neglect is driven by our faith and tradition. That some children come to faith in Christ is their choice, not our coercion. We provide the kids in our care the choice to embrace faith or refuse it. The children’s faith choices is not the real issue here, our values are.