Tennessee Commission On Children And Youth UC Representative Concerned About New Bill

A new Tennessee senate bill removing any mention of the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth has commissioners concerned about the future of Tennessee children.

Upper Cumberland Commissioner Glenda Terry said she does not understand why this bill is being pushed through.

“It makes me sad because I don’t know at this point what’s going to happen to all of the programs that TCCY sponsors,” Terry said. “I’m sure the legislators probably have an idea but we don’t know what those ideas are.”

As proposed by the bill, An ombudsman responsible for DCS oversight would be moved to the Department of Human Resources. Other TCCY duties would be transferred to the Department of Children’s Services and the Department of Finance and Administration, among other agencies.

Terry said TCCY’s mission is to better the lives of children in the state. She said if those duties fall to other departments where that is not the focal point of the job, she is concerned for that means for the future of Tennessee’s children.

“We have different committees for different things, like we have a grant committee who takes grants from different people all over this area and all over the state,” Terry said. “And monies are given o people who meet the qualifications fo those grants. So I don’t know. SI that going to carry on? Are people who do things for schools, for the youth in the communities, is that going to carry forward?”