Ashland — The number of children in Boyd, Carter and Greenup counties declined in 2008 but a higher percentage were abused or neglected compared to prior years.

The rate of children in out-of-home care due to abuse or neglect also increased in Boyd and Greenup counties while declining slightly in Carter County from 2003 to 2008. Fewer youths were arrested in all three counties on public offenses from 2006 to 2008 than previous years.

These facts are among the many that the Kentucky Youth Advocates, a nonprofit, nonpartisan children’s advocacy organization, claim make the case for more early intervention, family preservation programs and increased communication among agencies responsible for child welfare and administering juvenile justice.

The county-level data, along with state-wide figures, are combined with the agency’s recommendations in the 2009 Kids Count Data Book, released this week. The Kentucky Youth Advocates, along with the Annie E. Casey Foundation, compiles the annual report using data from various state agencies.

According to the report, youth would be best served by an integrated data system that would automatically notify the child welfare agency, the courts or the Department of Juvenile Justice when a youth appears in another system.

“We know that kids don’t have isolated issues; they are interrelated,” said Kentucky Youth Advocates Deputy Director Tara Grieshop-Goodwin, who coordinates the Kids Count project.

Grieshop-Goodwin said children who have been abused or neglected are 55 percent more likely to be arrested and 96 percent more likely to commit a violent crime.

“There is a public safety interest in making sure we’re fully serving and addressing the underlying problems that children who have been abused or neglected are facing,” she said.

“Currently, we know about kids who are deep into the system — they are committed to both departments. And just from what we know about the high risk of kids who have been abused or neglected and go on to offend, we can target services to that youth that will hopefully get them back on the right track,” Grieshop-Goodwin said.

Grieshop-Goodwin said there is a lot of interest already among officials at all the agencies involved but the challenge is “keeping that momentum going and really trying to figure out what we can do in the short term to improve communication.”

Then, long term goals such as an integrated data system, would need to be set and implemented gradually.

“I think everyone involved sees the value of making the government structure work for the youth as opposed to working in isolated silos. It’s not a question of interest in working together, it’s a question of how to do it,” she said.

Early intervention also makes economic sense too in these times of cash-strapped state and local budgets.

“This is kind of a down-the-road issue,” Grieshop-Goodwin said. “If we are not addressing this high rate of offending, if we don’t catch them at that first arrest and put an intervention into place, we’re going to keep contributing to the adult overcrowding prison population that we have,” she said.

The advocates say the state should invest more in less costly family preservation programs that address the risk factors such as alcohol and substance abuse, mental health or income issues that are the root causes of most abuse or neglect.

“Through research conducted on them, we know they have a very high success rate in making sure the kids are safe by teaching the parents new skills,” she said. “We save a lot of money for the state by avoiding out-of-home care costs. We eliminate that trauma to the child and the parents from having the child removed from a home,” Grieshop-Goodwin said.

“All of these pieces are boiled down to making sure youth have the opportunities to become successful adults,” she added.

CARRIE STAMBAUGH can be reached at cstambaugh@dailyindependent.

com or (606) 326-2653.