What follows is the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities’ statement related to the U.S.’s new “zero-tolerance” immigration border policy, which resulted in nearly 650 families being prosecuted between May 6 and 19 alone, with the number expected to rise. The Alliance understands that children from prosecuted families are likely being separated from their parents under the new policy. The administration has to fully understand that criminally prosecuting and separating families that are traveling hundreds of miles in hopes of a better life is not only morally wrong but will result in the necessary expenditure of federal resources to address […]

Hazelwood Middle School students participating in our New Albany, Ind., afterschool program spent six weeks learning about gardening, including growing their own produce in a Tower Garden in order to have year-round access to healthy foods. A Tower Garden is a vertical, soil-less growing system that allows you to grow up to 20 vegetables, herbs, fruits, and flowers in less than three square feet—indoors or outside. The students worked in groups to put the Tower Garden together, planted the seedlings, and spent the following weeks learning about the nutrients our bodies actually need vs. what we typically put into them. […]

Family & Children’s Place is proud to be included in Kentucky Gives Day, an online 24-hour fundraising event that brings charities and Kentuckians – near and far – together for a powerful day of action. Each year, the event gives Kentuckians the opportunity to support causes they care about and gives Kentucky’s nonprofits the opportunity to share their amazing stories—all through one giving site and in just 24 hours! This year’s Kentucky Gives Day is May 22, with the giving window from midnight to 11:59 p.m. Since its launch in 2012, Kentucky Gives Day has raised more than $1.3 million […]

Today, May 10 is “Thank a Youth Worker Day,” so we’re saying thanks to staff from our PAL Coalition and Family & School Services programs, the front line in our work with children and youth. Daily, our counselors and child advocacy center teams work with kids and families as well, but staff from FSS and PAL lives in the epicenter of our work with youth. So we want to recognize their passion, commitment, and contributions to the children they work with in and out of schools. FSS team members work with students from Meyzeek Middle in Louisville and Hazelwood Middle […]

HANDS graduations are bittersweet. Staff is so proud of clients – the children and their families, and of the many things they have accomplished together. But there’s also sadness as children graduate and leave the program. Some families stay in touch after graduation, but it’s not the same thing for staff as seeing and spending time with them, helping moms and dads build safe, strong lives for their babies. We know what HANDS staff gets out of it – it’s clear in their smiles, laughter, and cheers before and during graduation. But it’s also clear in their tears as families […]

If it’s springtime, you can expect longer days, flowering plants and trees, warming temperatures – and graduations. Family & Children’s Place staff and client families celebrated their own graduation recently, celebrating with 22 of the 53 children graduating as part of the spring 2018 HANDS client class. More than 90 family members joined their tiny grads for a celebration party at Our Mother of Sorrows on Eastern Parkway. EPIC Insurance sponsored the celebration, which featured food, games, fun, smiles, laughter, and lots of congratulations! HANDS is a core program for Family & Children’s Place that provides new parents free in-home […]