Several parents took part in the 2026 legislative process- turning their grief into Kentucky law.

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There's a version of grief that goes quiet. And then there's another kind- the kind that walks into the Capitol, sits down with a lawmaker, and refuses to leave until something changes.

This year, four Kentucky families showed up with that second kind. They came carrying the names of children they lost- a 19-year-old student, a young mother, a 6-year-old boy, an 8-year-old third-grader- and they pushed the General Assembly to reckon with the gaps in the law that made their losses worse. Three of them walked away with bills signed into law. One didn't- not yet.

Hunter's Purpose: clearing the path at the crossing

On the evening of April 28, 2020, Tanya Serna had just finished mowing the yard when her phone rang. Her nephew- a 911 dispatcher- had taken a call that would change everything. Her 19-year-old son Hunter had been hit by a train at a rural crossing in Hardin County. He was being airlifted to Louisville.

Hunter didn't survive.