By Devin Katayama
Louisville, KY – Nearly 250 child welfare advocates, lawmakers and community leaders say there are three main priorities for changes to Kentucky's child welfare system. Kentucky Youth Advocates held a summit this weekend to brainstorm policy changes for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services. Cabinet officials took part in the discussion. The group discussed and voted on recommendations that will be delivered to Frankfort next week. KYA Executive director Terry Brooks says the first two are cabinet transparency and support for preventative services, which should cost the state little to no money:
"The third idea is also one with big impact and the honest answer is its going to be tough, because it is a big ticket item. And that is we have to address the issue of case load for DCBS workers."
Kentucky's case workers have statistically more cases than the national average. But Brooks says the General Assembly will have to set firm priorities in this session, which will be dominated by discussions over the next state budget and redistricting.