KCHC April Newsletter

Kentucky Coalition For Healthy Children Newsletter

Issue 23 | April 2024

Working collaboratively on policies and practices in and around schools that promote equity and improve the physical, social, and emotional health and well-being of children, youth, and families.

The opinions and viewpoints expressed in this newsletter do not necessarily reflect the positions of all coalition partners.

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KCHC Member Highlights

Advocacy Series | State & Federal Policy Updates | April 9

The ThriveKY coalition and the Cabinet for Health and Family Services will hold their Quarterly Advocacy Update on state and federal policies with an impact on Kentucky families on April 9, 2024, 1:00 to 2:30 ET. Register here.

Grand Rounds | The inequity of Trauma and Adverse Childhood Experiences

The importance of understanding disparities in children’s exposure to traumatic experiences and identifying populations most at risk for harm can help focus interventions to improve health and lives. This is the focus of the Bounce Coalition’s Spring Grand Rounds on April 23, 2024 at 10:00 EST. Register here.

Webinar | Blooming in your Backyard: Harnessing Opioid Settlement Funds for Local Impact

The collaborative project working to address ACEs and support resilience, Bloom Kentucky, will be co-hosting a webinar on the 50% of the opioid settlement funds dedicated to empowering local efforts. The webinar is co-hosted with the Kentucky Association of County Counties' (KACo) and will take on April 24, 2024 from 1:00 to 2:00 EST. Register here.

Survey | Data Needed for Kentucky Communities to Assess Opioid Misuse

Kentucky Youth Advocates (KYA) is leading a project to collect the data needed to combat opioid misuse across Kentucky, with the support from the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission. Here are the links to learn more about the project and share the survey by April 20, 2024: Link to Project. Link to Survey

Training | The Kentucky Youth Health Network

The Kentucky Youth Health Network (KYHN) addresses the health and risk behaviors of youth in Kentucky by partnering with individuals and organizations to promote positive youth development. On April 17, 2024, the KYHN will hold it’s 2024 Spring Training at the Kentucky State University Research Farm in Frankfort from 8:30 to 4:00. Topics addressed include supporting pregnant teens, eating disorders, STI’s in teens, and Youth Thrive and teen bias. Register here.

What's New in Children's Health

Final Rule: Streamlining Medicaid, CHIP and More

On Wednesday, March 27, 2024, the Federal government released the final rule that will streamline the Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Basic Health Program Application, Eligibility Determination, Enrollment, and Renewal Processes.

The purpose of the rule is to protect consumers and make it easier for eligible individuals, including children, to stay covered. With this final rule, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) seeks to reduce coverage disruptions, further streamline Medicaid and CHIP eligibility and enrollment processes, reduce the administrative burden on states and people applying to and enrolled in Medicaid and CHIP programs, and increase enrollment and retention of eligible individuals.

As stated by CMS, “The final regulation simplifies the process for eligible people to enroll in Medicaid coverage and keep their coverage, with the goal of preventing eligible people from experiencing gaps in Medicaid due to burdensome administrative processes or unnecessary paperwork. The rule makes the process of applying and enrolling easier by:

Removing unnecessary barriers to enrollment. The rule prohibits states from requiring in-person interviews for individuals whose eligibility is based on being 65 or older or having blindness or disability. The rule also requires states to provide a reasonable period for applicants to return information and documentation when needed to determine eligibility.
Streamlining the information that people have to submit. The rule clarifies that current regulations that require states to use electronic data they receive from other sources also apply to income and assets. This means that if information provided by an individual is reasonably compatible with information returned through an asset verification system, the state must determine eligibility based on that information and may not request further verification of assets from the individual.
Ending burdensome requirements. The rule eliminates the requirement to apply for other benefits as a condition of Medicaid eligibility to ensure eligible individuals are not facing unnecessary administrative hurdles.
Simplifying eligibility requirements. The rule allows states to use projected predictable medical expenses incurred by people living in the community for purposes of deducting these expenses from the applicant’s income when determining financial eligibility. Examples of these expenses include home care and prescription drugs.”

More information here.

Expanding the Protective Factors Framework

The Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) developed the Strengthening Families (SF) Approach and the Protective Factors Framework in 2003, and the Youth Thrive (YT) Protective and Promotive Factors Framework in 2011. Both have been developed and enhanced in Kentucky by the KY Strengthening Families. The Center has now released a new report Expanding the Perspectives and Research Foundation for the Strengthening Families & Youth Thrive Frameworks which includes research and perspectives by racially and ethnically diverse scholars and is also informed by listening sessions that took place in 2023 that brought perspectives of SF and YT partners, practitioners, and young adults.

The action-oriented values that describe the standards for implementing the frameworks are: a) employ a social-ecological approach; b) adopt a strengths-based perspective; c) understand oppression and privilege; d) incorporate and intersectional frame of reference; e) demonstrate cultural responsiveness, cultural humility, and intellectual humility; f) amplify constituent voice and power; and g) pursue equity and justice for children, youth and families.

Summarized, the Protective Factors are:

Parental and Youth Resilience; managing stress and functioning well, facilitated by individual, relational, community, or societal factors- when faced with stressors, adversity, or trauma.

Social Connections; healthy, meaningful, trusting, and sustained relationships with people, institutions, communities, or a higher power that promote a sense of connectedness, belonging, and mattering.

Knowledge of Parenting & Child and Adolescent Development; including positive childhood experiences.

Social & Emotional Competence of Children and Cognitive & Social-Emotional Competence for youth, providing environments and experiences that build positive social skills and relationships.

Concrete Support Identifying, accessing, advocating for, and receiving high quality and equitable support including the basic necessities and specialized services.

Strengths-Based Measurement for Youth

The Search Institute has published a new report to provide a guide and tools to measure existing strengths in a young person’s life, discussing how assessing strengths as well as risks or challenges can help practitioners better support the needs of the youth they serve. The report, A Landscape Scan of Measures for Youth Strengths Across Individual, Family, School and Community Settings, details measures, context (community, family, etc.) and how they might be used in improvement or evaluation efforts.

In Your Community

Youth Advocating to Reduce Tobacco Use in Kentucky

In February, the #iCANendthetrend Youth Advisory Board hosted the Ignite KYouth: Enforce Tobacco 21 Youth Advocacy Summit at the Kentucky State Capitol in Frankfort. On this day, nearly 100 Kentucky middle to high school-age youth from Kentucky gathered to champion stronger enforcement of the Tobacco 21 law in our state. Throughout the day, students met with over 25 legislators, engaged with one another to share their experiences and stories, and rallied in the Capitol complex to educate and raise awareness about youth nicotine use in their communities.

During their time in the Capitol rotunda, students heard from our Youth Advisory Board regarding their personal experiences with nicotine use in their schools and communities as well as from a motivational speaker. Fundamental to this time was hearing from Senator Max Wise on the importance of youth involvement in this sphere and from Representative Rebecca Raymer, who is the bill sponsor for HB11, a bill aimed to further regulate vapes and e-cigarettes sold in Kentucky.

"We could not have accomplished either of these days without the generous leadership and support from our partners: Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, American Lung Association, Kentucky Youth Advocates, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids & the American Heart Association. Let's keep this momentum going & continue to uplift the youth voice!" - #iCANendthetrend