{"id":28124,"date":"2022-01-26T06:17:28","date_gmt":"2022-01-26T06:17:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/?p=28124"},"modified":"2022-01-26T06:17:28","modified_gmt":"2022-01-26T06:17:28","slug":"kentucky-youth-advocates-honored-legislators-with-champion-for-children-awards-for-bills-good-for-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/2022\/01\/26\/kentucky-youth-advocates-honored-legislators-with-champion-for-children-awards-for-bills-good-for-kids\/","title":{"rendered":"Kentucky Youth Advocates honored legislators with Champion for Children awards for bills good for kids"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Kentucky Youth Advocates<\/em><\/p>\n

Elected leaders and advocates step up for Kentucky kids in countless ways every day, especially in Frankfort throughout the legislative session.<\/p>\n

During\u00a0Children\u2019s Advocacy Week<\/a>, Kentucky Youth Advocates and partners in the\u00a0Blueprint for Kentucky\u2019s Children\u00a0<\/a>present Champion for Children and Step Up for Kids awards to honor those state leaders and advocates for their efforts.<\/p>\n

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At this year\u2019s\u00a0Rally for Kentucky Kids<\/a>, KYA honored several members of the 2022 Kentucky General Assembly for their sponsorship of bills that were good for kids in the 2021 legislative session:<\/em><\/p>\n

\t\u2022 Senate Bill 10<\/strong>\u00a0established a\u00a0Commission on Race and Access to Opportunity\u00a0which is tasked with providing studies, research-driven policy proposals, and annual reports crossing the sectors of education, child welfare, health, economic opportunity, juvenile justice, criminal justice, and any other arenas that are considered relevant for advancing services and opportunities for communities of color.<\/p>\n

Senate President Pro Tem David Givens \u2013 primary co-sponsor
Senate President Robert Stivers \u2013 primary co-sponsor
Senator Whitney Westerfield \u2013 primary co-sponsor
Senator Ralph Alvarado
Senator Karen Berg
Senator Danny Carroll
Senator Alice Forgy Kerr
Senator Morgan McGarvey
Senator Robby Mills
Senator Gerald Neal
Senator Dennis Parrett
Senator Julie Raque Adams
Senator Reginald Thomas
Senator Damon Thayer<\/strong>
Senator Mike Wilson<\/p>\n

\t\u2022 Senate Bill 36,<\/strong> which received final passage via\u00a0Senate Bill 32, allowed juvenile court judges to use their discretion in the decision to transfer youth ages 14 and older to adult court for situations involving a firearm.<\/p>\n

Senator Whitney Westerfield, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee<\/p>\n

\t\u2022 Senate Bill 84<\/strong>\u00a0supported the health and well-being of pregnant mothers who are incarcerated and their babies by ensuring postpartum services, access to substance use treatment, and other community-based approaches, and by eliminating solitary confinement for people who are pregnant.<\/p>\n

Senator Julie Raque Adams, Majority Caucus Chair \u2013 primary sponsor
Senator Whitney Westerfield
Senator Karen Berg
Senator Morgan McGarvey
Senator Gerald Neal
Senator Damon Thayer<\/strong>
Senator Adrienne Southworth<\/p>\n

\t\u2022 Senate Bill 148<\/strong>\u00a0began to simplify local planning and zoning laws to allow regulated, homebased family child care options to safely serve children in their neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

Senator Danny Carroll<\/p>\n

\t\u2022 House Bill 472<\/strong>\u00a0established stronger accountability for perpetrators of child sexual abuse by strengthening statute of limitations timeframes for misdemeanor sexual abuse offenses from five to ten years to accommodate for delayed abuse disclosure.<\/p>\n

Representative Lynn Bechler \u2013 primary sponsor
Representative Mark Hart
Representative C. Ed Massey<\/strong>
Representative Ruth Ann Palumbo<\/p>\n

\t\u2022 The\u00a0continuation state budget\u00a0<\/strong>included investments in critical programs and services that impact child safety, health, education, and wellbeing.<\/p>\n

Senator Christian McDaniel, Chair of the Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee<\/strong>
Representative Jason Petrie, Chair of the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee<\/p>\n

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While KYA recognized these leaders for their efforts on these important pieces of legislation, it thanked the entire Kentucky General Assembly for their support of these\u00a02021 wins for kids.<\/p>\n

The following state officials \u2013 all employees of the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services \u2013 were also honored with 2022 Champion for Children awards for their efforts for kids and families, especially throughout the COVID-19 pandemic:<\/p>\n

\t\u2022\tChrista Bell, Executive Advisor, Department for Community Based Services
\u2022\tLesa Dennis, Deputy Commissioner, Department for Community Based Services
\u2022\tJason Dunn, Director, Division of Family Support
\u2022\tMelissa Goins, Director, Division of Family Resource and Youth Services Centers
\u2022\tSarah Vanover, Director, Division of Child Care.<\/p>\n

Lastly, we honored Jennifer Washburn, a community child care advocate, the owner and Executive Director of\u00a0iKids Childhood Enrichment Center\u00a0in Benton, which has been serving children for over 20 years. Jennifer and her staff have been truly essential to her community. First by providing care for the children of health care\u00a0workers in the early days of the pandemic and then doing everything she could to not only keep her center\u2019s doors open, but to also advocate strongly to include child care in federal relief packages.<\/p>\n

Jennifer stepped up again to show the essential nature of child care when her community of Marshall County was one of the areas receiving a direct hit from the tornadoes that ravaged Kentucky. Her center not only remained open, but also took in\u00a025 school children and additional preschoolers so that parents could work, help serve their neighbors, or even clean up their own tornado-ravaged spaces.<\/p>\n

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