Ky lawmakers make clear that while their kids count, many others do not | Opinion

Do all kids count, or just some? Yours but not others? Cute young cuddlies, but not older kids poorly affected by inadequate nurture or nature? These are fair questions because children are often used to score points, burnish creds, raise money, get votes, and fire up political bases. Yet, inadvertently or not, we through our government, are harming children.

It was with absolute horror that I read about the passage of Kentucky’s House Bill 470, one of the most irrational, hypocritical, and counterproductive pieces of proposed legislation in our Commonwealth’s modern history. It fights facts, demonizes vulnerable, innocent children, trashes treasured American values, destroys doctors’ duty to follow their Hippocratic oath, interferes with the sacred doctor-patient relationship, and usurps parents’ superior right to raise, protect, and care for their children. Worst of all, it will create infinitely more child misery, abuse and death, not less.

As a Guardian ad Litem for dependent, neglected and abused children, I have had the honor of representing transgender-evolving children. Had HB 470 been the law some of these children may now be dead, instead of thriving. This bill ignores the peer-reviewed non-surgical treatment protocols proven to save teens and improve their lives, including: the American Medical Association, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Counseling Association, National Association of Social Workers, American Public Health Association, American Psychological Association, and papers published in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Pediatrics, the Journal of the American Medical Association (found a 60% reduction in depression and a 73% reduction in suicidality among transgender youth aged 13 and up).

My child-clients had suffered multiple suicide attempts, reflecting their near life-long angst, depression, and sense of hopelessness. After their parents’ acceptance and support, counseling, and non-surgical gender-affirming treatments, they have emerged hopeful, optimistic and assured they were valued human beings with rights and the opportunity to a full and happy life.

Rep. Jennifer Decker, R-Waddy, who sponsored HB 470, said she filed it to protect children. But as a 2021 editorial in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health concluded, “This (anti-trans) stance willfully ignores decades of use of and research about puberty blockers and hormone therapy.” While well-intended, this legislation will push these and other children off the cliff of despair.

Before this news, Lexington Herald-Leader journalist John Cheves’ reports on the horrid treatment within the juvenile (in)justice system had already floored me. “I have witnessed abuse and neglect on a stomach-turning scale,” wrote a nurse from one of the juvenile facilities in her resignation. “The treatment of the youths is absolutely terrible,” wrote another nurse in hers. “They are confined to their room 24 hours a day. They do not even get a shower or recreation daily. They are even served meals in their cells — mind you, the same cells that they defecate and urinate in. It’s absolutely a disgrace.”

Chronic, severe understaffing and a complete lack of mental health treatment for these children are two main sources of the mayhem. But this is not new. Following the death of a 16-year-old girl kept in isolation In 2017, the Center for Children’s Law and Policy of Washington, D.C. issued a sharply critical report about DJJ’s shortcomings, including under-staffing and a lack of mental health services, which then-Gov. Matt Bevin’s administration largely ignored.

Governor Beshear is acting. He has increased the DJJ budget for more staff, higher salaries and beefed up security. But much more is needed. And while security is important, the focus must be on these children’s vital need for mental health and medical services. These children were born with two hands tied behind their backs. Many come through abusive homes. They’ve lived without hope from a young age. We have the responsibility to treat them humanely and give them a fair shot in life, as we would wish for our own.

Frankfort should show the same passion for all children as it does for giving our tax dollars to private businesses, corporate welfare, via Kentucky’s business tax incentive program, which gives billions away every year.

Let us view these deficiencies as an opportunity to show that all kids do indeed count. And to start today, now, before our heads hit our pillows tonight.

Richard Dawahare is a Lexington attorney.

This story was originally published March 7, 2023 at 10:51 AM.