Lead Family Advocate Lindsey Burns and partners from the Children's Advocacy Centers of Kentucky provided a Foundational Forensic Interview Training to service providers throughout Kentucky and West Virginia on January 4th-6th, as well as January 18th-19th.

Foundational Forensic Interview Trainings

CAC of the Bluegrass was happy to host National Children's Alliance approved Foundational Forensic Interview Trainings this month for service providers throughout Kentucky and West Virginia. Lead Forensic Interviewer, Lindsey Burns, worked with partners from Children's Advocacy Centers of Kentucky to build curriculum and training materials in order to establish important standards and best practices for forensic interviews. We appreciate the time and effort put into these important trainings, and we are excited to host more in the future!

2022 Service Numbers

2022 was a big year for the Children's Advocacy Center of the Bluegrass. As you can see below, we provided services for over 1,000 children and families from across 17 Central Kentucky counties. We are happy to share, also, that our therapy department is back up and running and holding an average of 40 sessions per week. Many multidisciplinary teams have also begun meeting in-person again and meeting more regularly, so our work with community partners continues to expand.

Board Member Spotlight

Bill Francis

Bill Francis at the Children's Advocacy Center of the Bluegrass

Bill Francis has been a member of the CAC of the Bluegrass board since 2016. In that time, he has been actively involved in the Center’s annual gala and other events, assisting with grant applications, and in providing legal guidance and oversight. He serves on the board, he says, “because it is an important way to address issues that impact children who, without intervention, could be negatively affected for the rest of their lives.” He also appreciates the opportunity to help be part of the solution of addressing the harmful physical and mental issues that stem from the types of abuse cases the Center sees.

Recently retired, Bill was a practicing lawyer for 47 years – primarily in his home community of Prestonsburg, KY before moving to Lexington and finishing his career at Fowler/Bell PLLC. Bill began working at age 5 in his family’s clothing store, and says that after 69 years of working he has enjoyed the relative calm of retirement.

Bill and his wife Linda celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary in 2022. They are the proud parents of Carrie, and grandparents of Lydia and Evie. A UK grad (both undergrad and law school), Bill is a fixture at UK sporting events and is a past president of the UK alumni association. He and Linda enjoy spending time in the Asheville, NC area as well as making frequent trips to Massachusetts to spend time with their daughter and grandchildren.

Staff Spotlight

Kendall Cassity

Family Advocate

Kendall has been a Family Advocate with the CAC since April of 2022. In her role, she serves children and families in Anderson, Bourbon, Harrison, Nicholas, Scott, and Woodford counties. As an advocate, her proudest moments are when families feel welcome, comfortable, heard, and supported. She loves the opportunity to advocate for and support the families of central Kentucky, and enjoys learning about people and listening to their experiences.

Prior to working at the CAC, Kendall worked as a Social Service Worker for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services in the Department for Community Based Services out of Bourbon County. Kendall lives in Lexington, and in her free time she enjoys cheering on the Wildcats and spending time with her family and dogs. When she gets the chance, she will travel to ANY beach, and also loves to visit Disney World.

An Evening For the Children's Advocacy Center of the Bluegrass 2023

The CAC team is already busy with planning our annual gala, and we are excited to announce that our 2023 event, "An Evening for the Children's Advocacy Center of the Bluegrass" will be at Keeneland's Entertainment Center and Barn on Friday, August 25th. Last year we raised a record amount of $190,000, and we can't wait to see what this year's event will bring! Mark your calendars, and we hope to see you there!

If you are interested in becoming a sponsor, or would like more information on reserving a table or purchasing individual tickets, then contact Taylor Ballinger at taylor@kykids.org.

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Children's Advocacy Center of the Bluegrass's work is made possible thanks to the generous support of our key partners.