Support Kentucky Youth

'Kentuckians Without Power'

Progress has been taking place in Frankfort this week. The House and Senate appear poised to approve increases in taxes on cigarettes and alcohol that will raise about $150 million in state revenues over a full year. We need to continue to communicate to the governor, who will oversee how the additional revenue is used, and to our elected representatives that restoring funds to the foster care system is essential.

A recent editorial in The Courier-Journal made a strong argument for the funding.

“Kentuckians without power – now there’s a concept.

On another day, we would be referring to our neighbors whose electrical connections were cut by the ice storm. But today, we speak for and about abused and neglected children in need of safety-net services and low-income families in search of affordable housing.

Two recent stories in The Courier-Journal examined how these vulnerable citizens are being particularly squeezed by the economic downturn and the resulting state budget shortfall of almost half a billion dollars.

Reporter Deborah Yetter wrote that the Cabinet for Health and Family Services is cutting $4.5 million from private, non-profit agencies that provide foster care and residential services for several thousand Kentucky children who have been removed from their homes because of abuse and neglect. The state does not have residential centers …

Neither abused children nor poor families are a powerful constituency. But clearly, we as a people, and as a society, cannot allow life-saving or life-sustaining services to be curtailed to children who already have been hurt …

It is within the power of state government to raise revenue to support services for our children …

Shame, if we leave the least of us out in the cold.”

If you haven’t already, please send a letter to Governor Steve Beshear at:
700 Capitol Ave., Suite 100
Frankfort, KY 40601

You can also send a message to lawmakers by following these steps:
1. Call the Legislative Message Line at (800) 372-7181.
2. Give your name and address.
3. Give the message “Avoid cuts to children in foster care” to the leadership in both the House and Senate as well as Sen. Charlie Borders, Rep. Rick Rand and your personal legislators. (Find your legislators at http://www.votesmart.org.)

In these critical times, we must be the voice for Kentucky children without power.

The Fight in Frankfort

Children’s advocates from across Kentucky gathered in the state capital Monday to express our outrage over budget cuts detrimental to the 7,000 children in the foster care system. Private child caring agencies like Sunrise Children’s Services receive reimbursement from the state for offering refuge to abused and neglected kids. Gov. Steve Beshear chose not to exempt the foster care system from state funding cuts he ordered to address a nearly $460 million budget shortfall. So effective Feb. 1, Sunrise and similar agencies saw reimbursement rates drop about 7 percent.

The Courier-Journal quoted me at the news conference: “By statute, the commonwealth must care for these kids – it’s not an option. If we go away, they still must provide care.” The Lexington Herald-Leader also covered the event.

Gateway Children’s Services is one of the smaller agencies that faces closure because of the cuts. CEO Kaye Jones Templin said she’s tired of hearing from lawmakers that the private agencies can “get by” or need to work harder to raise outside money to care for children.

“We expect better of our leadership,” she said. “They wouldn’t tell a road contractor, ‘Here’s 50 cents on the dollar – you go out and find the other 50 cents to build a road.’”

We have asked our supporters many times to lobby for adequate funding of our services, and we’ve been successful until this point. Now that budget cuts are a reality, we must work to reverse the state’s decision as quickly as possible. Our first step is to flood the governor with letters urging him to make the safety of children a priority and exempt the foster care system from budget cuts.

Below are some ideas to include in your letters. Also check out two previous entries for more information – “Take Action Now” and “Sharing Responsibility for Children in Need.”
• The rate reductions for private child care agencies like Sunrise will put agencies who care for Kentucky’s most vulnerable children at risk. Some may close, and others will be forced to make budget reductions that significantly weaken services to these children.
• The governor stated that education, health care and public safety were his top priorities, but he has chosen to overlook children in the custody of the state. While running for governor, Beshear said he would fully and responsibly fund the child welfare system.
• We understand the seriousness of the budget crisis, but we do not understand passing over victims of obscene abuse and neglect.

Please mail your letters to:

Governor Steve Beshear
700 Capitol Ave., Suite 100
Frankfort, KY 40601

Thank you in advance for standing up for our kids. They need you now more than ever.