Kentucky has one of the highest rates of child abuse and neglect in the country.

This week, hundreds of groups came together to share resources, collaborate and educate themselves on preventing child abuse.

Our Makenzie Spence has more on ways the state is improving and where progress still needs to be made.

For 29 years, the kids are worth it.

Conference has brought professionals from across the state to boost awareness and education on how to keep Kentucky kids safe from abuse and neglect.

We've got law enforcement, we've got social workers, we've got school folks from the Family Resource and Youth Service centers.

We've got some medical representatives.

Jill Seifried, executive director of Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky, has been here for all 29 conferences.

She says Kentucky has made progress in preventing abuse before it happens.

One of the areas that we are doing a better job of is making sure that we pay attention to being upstream, make sure that before they enter the foster care system or the juvenile justice system, that we provide the resources that they need in order to, you know, stay within the family in a safe and nurturing way.

Governor Beshear was one of the keynote speakers at the event.

He echoed the success of Kentucky's prevention initiatives celebrating the opening of the Upstream Academy, which was announced earlier this year.

It is a program that trains at least one person for each county to recognize the signs of child abuse for a family that might be in that spot, and then they turn around and train 50 other people in each of those counties to ensure we have a small army of helpers and heroes that are out there looking out for our children.

Governor Beshear also celebrated the work Kentucky State Police has done in protecting children online since 2019.

KSP has arrested more than 300 online predators for crimes against children.

He also gave an update on CCP's K9 unit, which can detect hidden electronic storage devices.

They received national recognition for their ability to detect electronic storage devices, such as hard drives to gather, make, and can have helped arrest 129 child predators.

How about that?

Despite the state's progress and keeping children safe, Seaford says there's still work to do, especially in the digital space.

Just the attorney General's office alone.

The referrals that they have gotten have surpassed what they've received last year.

Seaford says the responsibility to keep children safe lies in the hands of all Kentuckians.

Our focus is making sure that everyone knows that it's the power of one, meaning that every one of us, each one of us, has the opportunity to change the life of a child.

Kentucky State Police and Prevent Child Abuse Kentucky have partnered to develop and distribute free materials for parents on subjects like cyberbullying and online sexual extortion.

For Kentucky Edition, I'm Mackenzie Spink.

Thank you.

Mackenzie.

This year, the Kentucky General Assembly passed Senate Bill 73, which explicitly defines sextortion as a crime, increases penalties and mandates school education and reporting procedures.