Beattyville Event Offers Free Family Fun, Child Abuse Awareness Resources

DCBS representatives will join first responders and child-protection partners at Happy Top in Beattyville on April 16 for a free community event pairing inflatables, face painting, and hot dogs with child abuse prevention resources, offered in a county where 42% of children live in poverty.

The Child Abuse Community Awareness Event runs from 4 to 6 p.m. and is open to all families. It is timed to April's nationally recognized Child Abuse Prevention Month, a campaign championed by Prevent Child Abuse America, which introduced the blue pinwheel as the national symbol for child abuse and neglect prevention to represent the healthy, happy, and carefree childhood every child deserves. In Owsley County, that symbol carries particular weight.

Data USA puts the county's child poverty rate at 42% as of 2025, down 14.8% from 2014 levels but still among the starkest in the country. The county's median household income stands at $31,064, and its population of roughly 4,021 makes it the second-least populous county in Kentucky. Earlier Census data showed Owsley ranked second-highest in child poverty among all U.S. counties and, by income per household, the poorest county in the nation.

The stakes behind this event extend well beyond Owsley's borders. Kentucky's child maltreatment rate stands at 14.1 victims per 1,000 children, according to the most recent federal report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Children's Bureau, nearly double the national average of 7.2 per 1,000 and ranking the Commonwealth fourth-highest nationally behind only Maine, West Virginia, and Mississippi. That rate corresponds to approximately 14,505 child victims statewide. A 2023-2024 CPS intake fact sheet found 5,620 children aged one to five and 2,107 infants reported to Kentucky Child Protective Services in a single year.

Progress is measurable, though uneven. Kentucky Youth Advocates documented a roughly 28% reduction in child maltreatment victims from 2019 to 2023. Owsley County has its own data point worth noting: the 2023 Kentucky KIDS COUNT County Data Book recorded the county's foster-care reunification rate at 78%, the best in the state, a sign that local child welfare engagement can produce real results.

DCBS, which operates under the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services across nine service regions statewide, handles child and adult protection, foster care, adoption, and family self-sufficiency programs including food assistance and cash assistance. Its presence at a festive community event reflects a deliberate strategy to reduce the institutional distance that can discourage families from seeking help. Kentucky's Child Fatality and Near Fatality External Review Panel noted in its 2023 annual report that concerns about screening out CPS referrals and gaps in contact with families have been longstanding, making informal touchpoints like the April 16 gathering a meaningful supplement to formal outreach.

Families who need to reach DCBS outside of the event can call the agency's 24-hour child abuse and neglect hotline at 1-877-KYSAFE1 (1-877-597-2331). Non-emergency reports can be submitted online, monitored Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern time. In emergencies, call 911.