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Beshear Partnering with Kentucky Council of Churches to Stop Child Abuse, Senior Scams

Kentucky Attorney General's Office

Attorney General Andy Beshear and the Kentucky Council of Churches today announced a statewide partnership to prevent child abuse and scams targeting seniors.

With the collaboration, the Council will provide warning signs of child abuse and scam prevention information to its 1,100 member churches statewide.

Beshear and the Council share a common mission – to better protect some of the state’s most vulnerable populations: children and seniors.

“One of my top priorities is to protect Kentucky families, especially our seniors and children, from abuse and exploitation,” Beshear said. “This partnership with the Council and its member congregations will continue to raise awareness and give Kentuckians the tools they need to help protect their neighbors and loved ones.”

In creating the partnership, Beshear recently met with the Rev. Dr. Peggy Hinds, interim executive director of the Council; Kent Gilbert, president of the Council and lead pastor of Union-Church in Berea; and Pastor Kenneth J. Golphin, treasurer of the Council and senior pastor of Quinn Chapel in Lexington.

“We are excited to be partnering with the state to bring awareness and education to our member communities,” Hinds said. “Churches are in a unique position to reach out to neighborhoods and provide resources to help our most vulnerable citizens.”

When Beshear entered office, he created the Office of Child Abuse and Exploitation Prevention and the Office of Senior Protection, two offices working with the Council on this partnership.

In his ongoing mission to prevent child abuse, Beshear partnered in 2016 to provide the most comprehensive statewide child abuse prevention training ever offered, training over a thousand law enforcement officers, county prosecutors, parents and child advocates on how to recognize the signs of sexual predators and intervene to protect a child.

To protect seniors, Beshear launched Scam Alerts last year as the state’s first direct messaging service that notifies Kentuckians of financial schemes by con artists to steal a person’s money or identification. Beshear and his Office of Senior Protection created the 2017 Interfaith Travel Series on Scam Alerts in partnerships with AARP of Kentucky to protect local congregations and the communities they serve from con artists and the latest scams. 

Kentuckians may sign up for Scam Alerts by texting the words KYOAG Scam to GOV311 (468311), or enroll online at ag.ky.gov/scams and select text message or email alert.

Beshear said it is the legal and moral duty of all Kentuckians to report child abuse by calling877-KYSAFE1 (597-2331).  

Story provided by: Kentucky Attorney General Office