LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — An independent report found more than 300 Kentucky foster kids were forced to stay overnight in state office buildings, hotels, parks and more over 22-month period in an environment investigators called “rife with risks of sex trafficking, physical abuse, and other forms of abuse and negligence.”
The nontraditional placements, or NTPs, date back to 2022 and were subject of a WDRB investigation which showed some foster kids were staying overnight in the L&N building on West Broadway in downtown Louisville. This new report, released Monday morning by the Commonwealth Office of the Ombudsman, accused the Cabinet for Health and Family Services of “continued housing of vulnerable Kentucky children in state office buildings and other non-family or non-therapeutic based environments, a practice continuing for years despite CHFS promises to fix the problem.”
The year-long investigation found 304 placements between January 2023 and October 2024 — some for weeks at a time — broken down into the following places:
- 269 placements in CHFS Offices
- 17 placements in Hotels
- 16 placements in State Parks
- 11 placements in Hospitals (not admitted)
- 7 placements in Community Centers
- 1 placement in a Private Child Placing /Private Child Caring Office
“Housing children in state offices is a terrible solution to a solvable problem,” the report stated. “Yet, to the detriment of Kentucky’s children, CHFS’s promised solution remains undelivered.”…