Foster Care Review Boards Need Volunteers
Citizen Foster Care Review Boards in 30 Kentucky counties – including some in the Bluegrass area – are seeking volunteers to make a difference in the lives of local children in foster care and other out-of-home care.
The boards need volunteers to review cases of children placed in care because of dependency, neglect or abuse, to ensure that they are placed in safe, permanent homes as quickly as possible.
The counties in need of volunteers are Allen, Barren, Breckinridge, Butler, Caldwell, Calloway, Christian, Clark, Crittenden, Fayette, Fulton, Garrard, Graves, Grayson, Green, Hardin, Hart, Hickman, Jessamine, LaRue, Lincoln, Livingston, Logan, Lyon, Madison, Marshall, McLean, Todd, Trigg and Warren.
Volunteers are not required to live in these counties.
The Kentucky General Assembly created the state CFCRB in 1982 to decrease the time children spend in out-of-home care. CFCRB volunteers review Cabinet for Health and Family Services files on children placed in out-of-home care and work with the cabinet and courts on behalf of the state’s foster children.
The court-appointed volunteer reviewers help ensure that children receive the necessary services while in out-of-home care and are ultimately placed in permanent homes.
All volunteers must complete a six-hour initial training session. Potential volunteers are encouraged to apply as soon as possible so they can be screened and, if approved, scheduled for training in their area. Training sessions are scheduled for Friday, Sept. 28 in Lexington and Thursday, Oct. 25 in Bowling Green.
All potential volunteers must consent to a criminal record and Central Registry check. A recommendation is then made to the chief judge of the District Court or Family Court for appointment.
More than 700 volunteers across the state serve as members of the Kentucky Citizen Foster Care Review Board. In Fiscal Year 2017, volunteers conducted more than 20,000 reviews of more than 11,400 cases of children in foster and other out-of-home care.
Info: https://courts.ky.gov/courtprograms/cfcrb/Pages/default.aspx