FRANKFORT, Ky. — More than 110,000 kids in Kentucky are being raised by family members, likely grandparents, either informally or because of a court order.
Shannon Moody, senior policy and advocacy director for Kentucky Youth Advocates (KYA), said many of those caregivers need more financial and emotional support during the pandemic, pointing to surveys KYA conducted.
“I know that our legislators have a lot of important decisions to make in the coming session with a budget,” Moody said. “We would love to see an emphasis on making sure those critical supports that are already there are at least maintained if not added to.”
Lawmakers on the Child Welfare Oversight and Advisory Committee heard testimony on the subject Wednesday while discussing the impact COVID-19 has had on children in non-traditional settings, like living with grandparents.
The committee also looked at how the pandemic has affected reports of child abuse and how Kentucky courts handle them.
Reports of child abuse have dropped during the pandemic compared to the same time frame in 2019, but state officials say that could be because there simply aren’t as many eyes on children as there were before the pandemic.
Data provided to the committee show reports and intakes of child abuse cases have gone down this year. Critical incidents, or cases the Department for Community Based Services deems to be potentially deadly, were also down but the difference between this year and last year wasn’t as significant.
Some Republicans, including Child Welfare Oversight and Advisory Committee co-chairman Rep. David Meade, said it highlights the need to get kids back in school.
“Especially in those cases where they’re staying at home, being abused and neglected, there are sometimes worse things than this virus for those children,” Meade said.
Marta Miranda-Straub, the commissioner of the Department for Community Based Services, said her immediate concern is trying to improve services and be innovative while dealing with budget cuts due to the pandemic.