Tagged: Kentucky Youth Advocates

FRANKFORT — Advocates for Kentucky children on Thursday called for state leaders to provide funds and stave off recently announced cuts to programs that provide assistance for child care costs and to family members who take in young relatives.

The calls were made Thursday at the ninth annual Children Advocacy Day rally, which organizers estimated more than 1,000 people joined. Because of the crowd's size, the rally was moved from the Capitol Rotunda to outside.

Kentucky Youth Advocates have released the annual 2012 Kids Count County Data Book, which offers a county-by-county breakdown of "the path that Kentucky students follow starting from birth to the transition to adulthood based on educational outcomes at each of those stages."

Among the suggestions are the implementation of a state-level earned income tax credit. 

The state’s leading authority on juvenile justice says he would like to see status offenders kept out of incarceration facilities.

A status offense is something a youth gets in legal trouble for, but an adult wouldn’t. Common status offenses are running away from home or skipping school.

Department of Juvenile Justice Commissioner Hasan Davis says he believes status offenders shouldn’t be held in a detention center for minor offenses.

As Centre College prepares to host next month's vice presidential debate, several groups want to prepare Kentucky students for the event.

The Secretary of State and the non-profit Kentucky Youth Advocates have partnered with students from Bellarmine University to create lesson plans for Kentucky teachers. The lessons focus on basic civics and include information on political debates.