The Louisville Section of the National Council of Jewish Women will award the David Richart Pathways to Justice for Children Award for 2015 to Courier-Journal staff writer Deborah Yetter on Wednesday, October 28, at 7 p.m. at The Temple.
Yetter is being honored for her outstanding reporting on Kentucky’s poor record of protecting children from abuse and neglect. Her stories have focused on cases where children have died or suffered serious injury even after their plight had been reported to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.
In response to her reporting, Gov. Steve Beshear created a Child Fatality & Near Fatality Review Panel. Yetter’s stories also prompted the NCJW to create the David Richart Committee, to educate the public on problems in Kentucky’s child welfare programs and to advocate reforms. The committee is working with legislators and other officials to pass bills in the 2016 General Assembly that would open certain juvenile court proceedings to the public and would ensure that parents or other caretakers are provided legal counsel before a child is removed from their care.
David Richart, who died in 2011, was a tenacious advocate for children and was the founding director of Kentucky Youth Advocates. He was an inspiration to all who worked with him.