FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — Although Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness Month is still a few days away, in Frankfort, you’d think otherwise, as the governor has already started the month-long campaign.
Andy Beshear was joined by First Lady Brittainy, Lieutenant Governor Jacqueline Coleman, Attorney General Russell Coleman, and many other dignitaries for the signing of House Bill 207. This bill will strengthen the original bill by adding language to include other forms of abuse and sexual exploitation of minors. The bill’s sponsor, State Representative Stephanie Dietz, addressed the group before everyone went outside for the annual pinwheel ceremony.
“We have to stare at this darkness on behalf of the kids,” General Coleman said. "We have to elevate this issue to tackle it.”
It is a pressing issue across the state, specifically in a place like Capitol City.
“We get 20 to 30 cases every week, just here in Frankfort,” Krista Bird from the Cabinet for Health and Family Services said.
Governor Beshear, who previously served as the state’s Attorney General, said he’s always willing to learn and do more to protect Kentucky's children.
“To learn better policies and procedures and to always refine what we do to better help the next child,” the governor stated during his remarks.
As the group took turns speaking, a group of children sat on the floor in front, coloring the books they were given, which were designed to increase their awareness about different forms of abuse. Given their access to digital forms of communication, they need to be aware of those methods, too.
General Coleman said their coloring activity on the floor of the building’s rotunda is exactly what being a kid should be about.
“As a father and attorney general, I am committed to working to protect these kids,” he said.
Soon after, the pinwheels went into the ground—4,000 of them, or one for every 12 children born in Kentucky last year.
“It gets the kids involved. It’s a nice way of recognizing Child Abuse Prevention Month,” Bird added.
