Improving the quality of life for Kentucky’s families one step at a time | Opinion
As Kentucky grows, the legislature is committed to making changes and passing legislation to fit the needs the changing population. This year the House Families and Children Committee was formed and I had the privilege of being the committee chair. The committee came from conversations we had to split the Health and Family Services committee to better serve the needs of Kentucky’s families and children. These two important issue areas symbolize the legislature’s commitment to the families of Kentucky.
We have seen persistent problems with child welfare in the state, and the legislature must do everything possible to improve outcomes for Kentucky’s children. Kentucky ranks fifth in the U.S. for reported child neglect and abuse cases, and its victim rate is about twice as high as the U.S. rate of 8.1, with about 17 out of 1,000 children experiencing some abuse or neglect. These are abysmal numbers, and seeing how many of Kentucky’s children are affected by abuse is heartbreaking. While we have seen a drop in cases in the last couple of years, reported cases are more severe, so we must provide more resources and improve services at the Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS).
We know from reports that substance abuse is a large part of many cases, reports from 2021 show 64% of cases included substance abuse. We also know mental health is a large part of cases, with 51% of reports including it. Kentucky is in the middle of an opioid epidemic and mental health crisis, which is why we are seeing many children involved in abuse cases with it listed. We must support families to raise their children in safe environments, and the Families and Children committee is committed to finding ways to help mitigate many of these problems. We look at how to improve child welfare and public assistance programs like TANF, SNAP, and WIC. Each of these programs is an important resource for many Kentuckians, and we must ensure they are being administered to those who need them.
During this session, we passed many important pieces of legislation through the committee, including creating the Benefits Cliff Calculator, a clinical assessment tool designed to detect the symptoms of perinatal mental health disorders, and regulating recovery residences. The Benefits Cliff Calculator is extremely important for those looking to take a job promotion or new job and to see what kinds of public assistance programs they will keep and lose. The perinatal mental health assessment tool on the CHFS website will be crucial to improving maternal health outcomes and will help new mothers at an important time in their life. We also passed out of committee and into law the regulating of recovery residences which I was proud to be the primary sponsor of. This legislation ensures sober living homes and recovery residences are helping those in substance abuse recovery and will eliminate bad actors.
Not only did we pass those pieces of legislation, but we also passed HB 334, which increases beds at intermediate care facilities; SB 48, which is a reorganization of CHFS, HB 238, which prohibits organ donation discrimination for those with disabilities; and many more pieces of legislation to help improve to lives of those throughout the Commonwealth. It was an extremely successful session for the new Families and Children Committee, and I am certain this committee will continue passing meaningful legislation to help all Kentuckians.
Rep. Samara Heavrin, R-Leitchfield, represents the 18th District in Grayson and Hardin Counties.