Letter to the Editor (submitted by Zachary Bryant)

To whom this may concern,

I am writing you this letter to inform you of the situation we are facing here in Kentucky. I feel like this might be an issue nationwide, but I know it is definitely an issue in Kentucky.

To start off, I'll introduce myself. My name is Zachary Bryant, I am 30 years old, I have four children, one of which my wife and I adopted just last year. I am a lifetime resident of Jackson County Kentucky.

I have been a police officer going on 10 years, worked EMS for about 5 years and have served as a Volunteer Firefighter for the last 15 years. I have seen several terrifying things throughout my career as a first responder; from active shooters, apprehending murder suspects, working murder cases, deaths of children, doing CPR on people that I knew in my heart wasn't going to be resuscitated, but also didn't want the family watching me to think I was giving up, and fighting fatal house fires. This past Tuesday, December 23, 2025 was one of the worst for me. It was ONE of the worst because it could have been avoided.

This particular call that I am referring to started on July 28th, 2025. I was called to an address about a father that was inside of his residence, threatening to kill his four children, his spouse, and another family member that was living inside. The male was threatening to cut his family's throats, set the house on fire, and then kill himself. Myself and my colleagues responded to the residence and eventually were able to rescue everyone, except the male, out of a bedroom window and get them to safety. After some negotiation, myself and Sheriff Daniel Isaacs of Jackson County Sheriff's Office were able to successfully talk the male into surrendering and coming out of the residence.

The Kentucky Department for Health and Family Services (CPS) was called to the scene for several reasons. One, being the threats of the father, others being no food, water or electricity in the home, and another being the condition of the home. The home was disgusting and unfit for an adult to live in, none to less four children under the age of 6. Myself and other community members came together and bought non-perishable food items so the family would have food. We did this because we assumed nothing would be done. We felt this way because CPS has had multiple cases opened on this family while living in this same residence, as well as other residences, and nothing had ever been done; despite the unhealthy living conditions and lack of parenting the children were receiving. The reason I know is because local law enforcement were the ones to report most of the cases.

Once CPS was contacted and began their investigation, a CPS order was put into place; the father wasn’t allowed to be around or have contact with the children and the mother would have to leave the residence due to the living conditions and the lack of food.
The father was taken for treatment for mental health issues, an arrest warrant was obtained and served on the male. The male served just a few days before being released on bond and eventually court ordered to rehab.

Tuesday, December 2, 2025, I was advised the father had left treatment and was back at the residence with the whole family, including the four children. I notified CPS case worker, Taylor Chestnut, about what I had learned and she advised they knew the family was back at the residence and would report it to the family's case worker to make sure it was ok for them to be there.

Now, let’s get to this past Tuesday, December 23, 2025, at 11:25 pm; I was notified of a structure fire at this address with three children trapped. There were three adults and a small child that had escaped the flames and ran to a neighboring residence to call for help.
I went to the residence to assist. I arrived at the residence within minutes of being notified, I was the first on scene. I observed the survivors of the fire standing in the road. The survivors I saw were the mother, father, grandmother, and one of the children that was removed from the residence in July.

Unfortunately, the other three children (that were taken from the home less than 6 months earlier) fell victim to this fire and were unable to make it out. We (the first responders) were able to recover the remains of the three small children (a seven month old infant, a two year old, and a three year old) that were unable to make it out.

This fire is being investigated by the Kentucky State Police.

I'm going to tell you another story from almost 12 years ago. I was just getting into law enforcement doing a ride along with a deputy sheriff in Jackson County. We were called to an apartment complex because there was a small juvenile walking around the complex with no guardian to watch over them. Ultimately, CPS was able to take custody of the child and find placement for them. Eventually the child was given back to the family that had neglected him prior. On September 9, 2017, about nine years ago, police were contacted in reference to a female and a five year old child that had been kidnapped; the suspect had attempted to kill the mother by pushing her over a 80ft cliff, the mother was able to identify the suspect. Law enforcement was able to locate the male and make an arrest. The suspect told law enforcement he let the child out of the vehicle and drove away from the scene but, we couldn't find the child. Jackson County Emergency Management along with local first responders organized a search for the child. After a three day search, the child was located- deceased- from head trauma.

Ultimately, the perpetrator, Lonnie Belt, was convicted of the murder of the five year old, James Spoonamore, and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. According to the perpetrator, the parents of James owed him money and hadn't paid, that was one of the reasons for his actions.

These two stories are just two of MANY that happen every day. If we as a country would quit gambling with children's lives, NONE of the four children mentioned in these stories would have died.

Why are we giving parents “chances” to become better parents just because state organizations have stepped in, if CPS sees fit to take a child from a residence due to a parent being negligent in any form?

I am writing this letter to hopefully bring sight to politicians, republicans and democrats. I am sending this letter to everyone I think might be able to make a change. All the way from the President of the United States, Congress, Senators, The Governor of Kentucky, State representatives and newspapers, local and national.

Gambling is not acceptable when it comes to children's lives. I would be honored to do whatever it takes, write whoever I need to, speak or go anywhere I might need to, to make a change so we can have more strict laws state and federal to keep children that are taken by CPS safe and not returned into the same environment they were taken from.

I mentioned I had four children when I first started this letter, one of which I told you me and my wife had adopted.
This was a family member that was addicted to drugs and wasn't able to take care of any of her five children. My wife and I became custodians of our youngest son when he was just two days old. My wife and I had to fight the system for six months just to try to give our son a life he deserves. That was a very quick process considering several families I know that have adopted children that have dragged on for YEARS. The cost of our adoption was around THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS ($3,000.00) and that was cheap because of the biological parents not fighting for their child. According to a quick internet search, a private adoption can cost up to SIXTY THOUSAND ($60,000). That is ridiculous, just to try to give a child a normal life. That should be illegal itself.

I think making adoption affordable, and more convenient there would be more fit families willing to adopt and foster kids in need. I don't know if this letter will help, but it will at least bring attention to the public and politicians around this great country. I hope to bring change to not only the state of Kentucky but the United States as a whole.

I have several ideas I think would benefit the system as a whole, as well as families and children in the future to eliminate this kind of thing from happening again. The ideas I have would be very cheap and effective and I would like to express my ideas to anyone that would like to listen.

The stories I have told you about WILL be heard, because I as a first responder can't sit back and let this happen in my community, state, or country any longer. This type of tragedy is not good on the victims, families of the victims, the communities, or the first responders responding to these tragedies mental health. Like I said in my letter above, I want to see change in the system and how these things are handled.

Again, if there is anything I as a police officer, father, or caring citizen can do to change or push forward to change, I would like to know. Give me a place to go, an address to send a letter to, or person to talk to in person. I will be glad to do it, along with over 50-100 other first responders that have seen the same things happen first hand. I want CHANGE and want to help with it as much as I can.

I hope to get a response back from this letter. I'm not a typical “complainer” and this is the first letter I have ever written to a politician or publisher.
God bless each and every one of you, and thank you all for the jobs you do.

Thank you, Zachary Bryant