LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky now ranks 6th in the nation in child victims of abuse and neglect, according to the 2021 Child Maltreatment Report. There has been an over 30% decrease in victims from 2017 to 2021. However, the rate of child victims per 1,000 children in 2021 is almost double the national rate.

What You Need To Know

  •  Due to teachers spending a lot of time with their students, many establish good relationships which, helps to identify if a child is having an issue

  •  Rhonda Jackson is a middle school teacher who says that building trust and having a relationship with students is vital

  •  If she has to report a situation, there are different avenues she can take such, as talking to a student's guidance counselor and the school's social worker

  • If a case makes it to court, a judge can appoint a CASA volunteer to a child or sibling set. That volunteer will stay with who they are appointed to until either the child is reunited with parents, adopted, or a relative of the child gets permanent custody

Teachers are often at the front lines of this issue. Establishing trust with students helps to identify if a student is having a problem at home.

Rhonda Jackson, a teacher at Fayette County Public Schools, greets her students and checks in on them.

“One of my favorite quotes is, ‘They don’t care what you know until they know that you care,’ and so that really speaks volumes about building those relationships,” said Jackson.

If something seems off, she’ll have a conversation with them. This gives students the opportunity to open up and sometimes they may describe a situation that’ll raise an alarm.

Jackson also looks out for extreme behaviors.

“Sometimes they may not come outright and say that they’re being abused or neglected or maybe, especially with middle schoolers, they don’t know those words,” said Jackson. “They don’t understand that, and so again, it’s where when we have that relationship and we can talk to them and have those conversations to kind of pull out some pieces that might lead us in that direction of, ‘Hey… something’s going on.’”

Kentucky state law requires anyone who has reasonable cause to report abuse or neglect. Jackson says that if she needs to report something, she would go to the student’s guidance counselor or the school’s social worker, depending on the severity of the situation.

“Once a report comes in, central intake decides if it meets criteria or not and if it does that moves along to the court system,” said Melynda Jamison, the executive director of CASA of Lexington. “Once a case is at court, a judge can appoint a CASA volunteer.”

Jackson is also a CASA volunteer and started this past summer.

The organization is currently in need of more volunteers. For more information about CASA and how to volunteer, visit their website.

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