KY Volunteers sought for Foster Care review board
FRANKFORT — The Citizen Foster Care Review Board is looking for volunteers in Mason, Bracken, Fleming, Robertson and Lewis Counties.
According to the courts.ky.gov website, the board is responsible for advocating for children in the local community.
“Advocating for the dependent, neglected and abused children in your community can be an important way to invest your time,” the website said. “Citizen Foster Care Review Board volunteers come from a variety of educational and professional backgrounds, but they all have in common a deep compassion for children.”
According to the website, in order to become a volunteer, interested individuals must apply on the site, be willing to complete a six hour training session and consent to a criminal record and central registry check.
Once training has been completed, recommendations will be made to the chief judge of the local district court and that judge will appoint individuals for a three year term.
The board meets once a month for about two hours.
The review board was created in 1982 in response to legislation aimed at decreasing the amount of time children spend in foster care. Volunteers review cases of children who are placed in the custody of Cabinet for Health and Family Services by a court order for temporary custody.
In 2016, the volunteers held 2,222 meetings and conducted 20,869 reviews on 11,387 children in out-of-home care.
“The increase in board members can be attributed in par to the increase in interested parties,” according to the Kentucky courts website.
