June town halls seek to improve Kentucky foster care system, address substance use disorder

Republished from WEKU.

A series of virtual town halls that look to improve the Commonwealth’s foster case system are scheduled in June.

The town halls are hosted by the Citizen Foster Care Review Board every six months. This set will focus on substance use disorder, which board members say is one of the top reasons children are placed in foster care.

““It’s a very common theme,” board director Steven Farr said. “In the cases that we see often, the reason that a parent is struggling to adequately parent their children is because they’re struggling with substance abuse issues.”

Farr says the discussions at these meetings are brought to the governor and state legislature.

“What we find is that there are some services that are very available in one part of the state but maybe pretty sparse in other parts,” Farr said. “And so that helps us report that information then to our state government.”

The town halls are scheduled for June 3, 5, 11 and 14 and are divided by region:

June 3 from 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m CDT/12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. EDT for Allen, Ballard, Barren, Breckinridge, Butler, Caldwell, Calloway, Carlisle, Christian, Crittenden, Daviess, Edmonson, Fulton, Graves, Grayson, Hancock, Hardin, Hart, Henderson, Hickman, Hopkins, LaRue, Livingston, Logan, Lyon, Marshall, McCracken, McLean, Meade, Metcalfe, Muhlenberg, Nelson, Ohio, Simpson, Todd, Trigg, Union, Warren and Webster counties, with registration available here.

June 5 from 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m CDT/12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. EDT for Adair, Bath, Bell, Boyd, Breathitt, Carter, Casey, Clay, Clinton, Cumberland, Elliott, Floyd, Green, Greenup, Harlan, Jackson, Johnson, Knott, Knox, Laurel, Lawrence, Leslie, Letcher, Lewis, Magoffin, Marion, Martin, McCreary, Menifee, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Perry, Pike, Powell, Pulaski, Rockcastle, Rowan, Russell, Taylor, Washington, Wayne, Whitley and Wolfe counties, with registration available here.

June 11 from 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m CDT/12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. EDT for Bullitt, Fayette and Jefferson counties, with registration available here.

June 14 from 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m CDT/12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. EDT for Anderson, Boone, Bourbon, Boyle, Bracken, Campbell, Carroll, Clark, Estill, Fleming, Franklin, Gallatin, Garrard, Grant, Harrison, Henry, Jessamine, Kenton, Lee, Lincoln, Madison, Mason, Mercer, Nicholas, Oldham, Owen, Owsley, Pendleton, Robertson, Scott, Shelby, Spencer, Trimble and Woodford counties, with registration available here.

Those interested can email cfcrb@kycourts.net.

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Originally published by WEKU.

Republished with permission.

https://www.weku.org/the-commonwealth/2024-05-31/june-town-halls-seek-to-improve-kentucky-foster-care-system-address-substance-use-disorder