Forensics Victims of Crime Act 2019-2020

Kentucky has the highest rate of child maltreatment in the country. There were over 80,000 reports of abuse/neglect and over 25,000 cases of substantiated abuse for a rate of 22.2/1000 children have been victims of child maltreatment. This is more than twice the national average. This number can quickly overload a system dedicated to identifying and providing services to these victims, especially the resources of the four practicing child abuse pediatricians in the state. Additionally these evaluations are time consuming and not easily addressed in an emergency department or primary care setting. When violence such as child abuse (physical or sexual) is identified, further care, beyond basic medical care, is also essential and typically requires a multidisciplinary approach. This has required a creative approach to trying to broaden this field in the state of Kentucky with the limited resources available. The development of the field of sexual assault nurse examiners has been a pioneer in the use of nurses for forensic purposes and has shown a great deal of success that ultimately led to a new role for nurses, the forensic nurse examiner. Funding from the VOCA grant will allow us to continue to utilize Forensic Nurses for evaluations of children that are victims of child maltreatment by continuing to support a Forensic Nurse position and a LCSW position as well as support the continued growth of the Division of Pediatric Forensic Medicine by funding additional nurses and social workers.