Rebuttal
Child Abuse and Drug Abuse
Are Both Issues in Our County
Unfortunately, I cannot control what ends up on the cutting room floor when a newspaper article is published. When I was interviewed for an article that appeared in Tuesday’s Tribune Courier, I spent a great deal of time explaining my plans to address substance abuse and one of its worst byproducts—child neglect in Marshall County.
My plans for weekly meetings with social workers is an important part of my plan, but my discussion in the interview also included seeking funding for a drug court program for misdemeanor offenders. Additionally it included a discussion of how excited I was to hear about the passage of the recent Opioid Bill, which opens up the possibility of federal funding for more treatment and rehabilitation programs—hopefully in our area.
Sadly, not all of my plan was printed, and I have been unfairly accused of offering no solutions to the child neglect issue our county faces. I do have planned initiatives. My focus is on two areas where the numbers are too high —drug abuse AND child neglect.
High numbers associated with drug abuse have not been addressed by my opponent, but high numbers associated with child neglect have been a part of the argument he has put before us time and time again.
As support for his initiative to prevent child neglect, my opponent has mentioned several times that “Last year, Marshall County had more SUBSTANTIATED child abuse and neglect than Graves, Calloway, or McCracken County.”
Again, I am not denying that child neglect is a problem, but I am not sure where he is getting his numbers.
The Kentucky Department of Community Based Services and the Child Protective Services Branch provided the data in the charts below. One can see in the bottom chart that in 2018 Marshall County had 175 cases of substantiated child abuse/neglect while McCracken had 260 and Calloway had 266.
Marshall, as a means of precaution, filed more petitions last year than Calloway (see top chart), but the number of “SUBSTANTIATED” cases in Marshall, that he claims is higher than McCracken and Calloway, is actually lower than McCracken or Calloway’s substantiated cases according to this information.
Again, I am not saying this to try and argue that child abuse is not a problem, but when he is posting that he is “shocked” about this data and saying that I “incorrectly’ said these numbers are only ‘cases filed” I believe it is only responsible of me to ask where he is getting his numbers. I am not intentionally publishing incorrect information. I have the data we requested from state government which indicates that Marshall County’s substantiated child abuse cases were lower than McCracken and Calloway’s last year.
Child abuse is a horrible problem no matter the number. I have never denied that, but I do not believe incorrect facts will help in fighting the problem. Additionally, I believe that drug abuse is the primary factor in our child abuse problem, and that is one area I have chosen to target in efforts of fighting this issue.
I believe that in Marshall County, we already know what is at the root of the majority of our child abuse problems. Research supports my belief that there is a huge correlation between substance abuse and child abuse.
In an article published in August of 2016 the American Academy of Pediatrics highlighted the relationship between child abuse and substance abuse. “ The US Department of Health and Human Services concluded that parental substance abuse is a contributing factor for one-third to two-thirds of children being involved with the child welfare system.”
The US Department of Health and Human Services Website elaborates on the correlation of child abuse and substance abuse in citing parental substance abuse as a “critical factor” in child welfare and reporting that 61 percent of the child protection reports related to the neglect of children were also cases where a parent suffered from a substance abuse problem.
The Adverse Childhood Experiences Study, an organization in an ongoing partnership with the CDC, has been bold enough to state in 2017 that according to their more recent studies, they believe “Parental substance abuse and addiction was the chief cause in at least 70 (and sometimes up to 90) percent of child welfare cases.”
The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, a division of the US Department of Health and Human Services, also published in March of 2018 a brief describing their finding in relationships between child abuse and substance abuse. The conclusion to their study was
Increased levels of substance use, including but not limited to opioids, have devastated many American families, and the child welfare system has felt the effects. Child welfare caseloads nationally increased by 10 percent between fiscal years 2012 and 2016 (the most recent years for which data are available).
My focus is on fighting drug abuse—not because I believe child abuse is a lesser problem or child abuse is not a problem, but because I believe drug abuse contributes so greatly to child abuse AND so many other issues.
Thank you for your continued support.
Know ALL the Facts
We are blessed beyond measure; there is no denying that. God gave us the grit to work, and we try our best to honor that. When our day is finished at one job, we don’t go home. We go to the next job.
Until just this past year, Jason worked in his private office and was employed part-time at the County Attorney’s Office while also serving as the Hardin City Attorney and on many other boards as their counsel. Now he is employed full-time at the County Attorney’s office, yet still serves as Hardin City Attorney, and counsel for Marshall and Calloway County Health Departments.
Jenny is a teacher, Chair of the English Department , Extended School Service Coordinator, and co-owner of the small business NoteWorthy Music Studio.
There are always piano lessons and evening meetings—not to mention the many roles we play as homework helpers, LEGO team coaches, soccer parents, and Sunday School teacher. We don't miss work, we don't miss meetings, we don't miss piano lessons, and we try our best not to miss soccer practice.
We are not denying we are blessed, but we find it offensive that one would claim we don’t work hard.
We find it concerning that we were accused of costing Marshall County two million dollars when that is completely untrue. The accusation that Jason was responsible for a bad contract is completely false. Jason was still in law school when the contract for the new health department was signed.
Know ALL the FACTS
On June 4, 2018, my opponent pledged to the voters of Marshall County that he would not spread baseless rumors or make personal attacks. That promise hasn’t lasted.
A Facebook post by Zach Brien on September 19th stated that I "lost two million dollars on a bad contract on the health department building." This is completely untrue.
The contract to which he refers was signed when I was still in law school. Yes, you heard that correctly. He's attempting to blame me for acts that occurred when I was literally not even in Marshall County.
The work of the County Attorney requires diligence, attention to detail, and a full grasp of the facts. My opponent’s false and defamatory statements do not reflect any of those attributes.
Second, I did receive a raise this year when I closed my private practice. What my opponent failed to tell you is that this was the first raise I have ever had other than cost of living adjustments.
To earn that raise, I took on more responsibility, which included everything from assisting the child support workers with their duties, to meeting with walk-ins, to answering the phones, to changing out the water bottles.
I have also been at the County Attorney’s office every day, whereas before as a part-time assistant I did not spend all of my time in that office. More money for more work, simple as that.
And lastly, the money for that raise came from fees raised by our office which are earmarked for office expenses. No additional taxpayer dollars were asked for or received from the state or from the fiscal court. It was an internal re-shifting of monies.
My opponent's post was captioned "Know the Facts." Unfortunately, he didn't have the facts or put forth any real effort to obtain those facts.
That concerns us, and as voters it should concern you.