By Keisha Lyon, member of Journey to Success Kentucky Earlier this month, the Journey to Success Kentucky team traveled to Washington DC hoping to elevate youth voices to our federal legislators. Among them were two lived experience experts who joined nationwide JTS advocates at Capitol Hill. Our main goals were asking [...]
In the challenging journey from foster care to independent living, having a dedicated support system can make all the difference. Kentucky Youth Advocates/True Up is at the forefront of creating positive change for young people, particularly those with a foster care background. To further this mission, we are actively seeking [...]
The urgent need to decrease disproportionality of Black/African-American youth in Kentucky’s foster care system continues to be reiterated every time young adults with a foster care history share their lived experiences. Goals of the Truth Telling Circles and the Thriving Families, Safer Children project work include increased community awareness and the importance of [...]
New Report – Fostering Connections: Actions Needed to Prevent Homelessness Among Foster Care Alumni Featuring Findings from Interviews and Surveys with Young Adults with Lived Experience and Recommendations LOUISVILLE, KY – Whether they exit care through adoption, family reunification, or aging out, foster care alumni are at higher risk of [...]
Journey to Success is a policy advocacy campaign that seeks to improve opportunities and outcomes for all youth and young adults who experience foster care by promoting their healing, family connections, and economic security. Kentucky Youth Advocates has developed a team of foster care alumni that represent the Journey to Success [...]
True Up loves to fill the gap in unmet needs, which is why we decided to host a foster alumni graduation party! Each year, the Department for Community Based Services hosts a party with the same goal, however, the criteria is more narrow. We had a young adult on [...]
By Carlie Reeves, Intern at Kentucky Youth Advocates Homelessness, while experienced by many, disproportionately affects those with a foster care experience. It has been found that in Kentucky, 1 in 3 young adults who have foster care experience will face homelessness/housing instability at some point. So, out of the 1,132 [...]
Too Many Kentucky Young People Exit Foster Care Without Permanent Families and Unprepared to Thrive on Their Own Fostering Youth Transitions 2023 Urges Improvements to Extended Foster Care Transition LOUISVILLE, KY – Permanent families and supportive adult connections, stable housing, and postsecondary education remain beyond the reach of too many young people [...]
By Tamara Vest May is National Foster Care Month. Did you know that Kentucky has over 8,500 children in out-of-home care? As of April 2, 2023, nearly 30 percent of those children have a permanent goal of adoption, 53 percent have a goal of reunification, and the remaining 17 percent may have other [...]
By: Tia Humphrey Over the past year or so, I have worked with Kentucky Youth Advocates and other Young Adults on a grant surrounding the disproportionality African American youth face with the foster system. Not only has this given me the opportunity and platform to share my testimony of experience, [...]
