After 2 years of limbo, Kentucky’s kinship care is back on track

After two years of limbo, the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services has started implementing a 2024 law to help families who step in to raise a minor relative, known as kinship care families. 

The Kentucky legislature approved and Gov. Andy Beshear signed SB 151 in 2024 to provide financial relief to grandparents and others who are raising children who otherwise would be in state care by making it easier for the family members to qualify for foster care payments.

Beshear’s administration contended that without specific funding — at one point, an estimated $20 million — it couldn’t implement the law. The General Assembly pushed back, saying he had the responsibility to implement it. 

For the next two years the legislature, auditor’s office and Beshear’s administration debated the issue — including in court — over who is responsible for funding the law and where the money should come from.

In Beshear’s budget request for 2026, he asked the legislature to appropriate $14.6 million in each fiscal year — nearly $30 million over the biennium — to fund the law. 

When the Senate initially added funds for SB 151 implementation, Beshear said “If they provide us $5 million, we’ll provide $5 million to those families.” 

By the end of the 2026 session, lawmakers upped the funding, giving Beshear $6 million each year — $12 million total — to fund SB 151. 

A July 15 letter from the cabinet to regional administrators and supervisors shared the Standard Operating Procedures for kinship care placements — essentially, guidance for cabinet employees on how to follow the law when considering placing a child in a kinship care home. 

Spokeswoman Beth Fisher said the cabinet had “authority” now to implement Senate Bill 151 thanks to language from this year’s House Bill 500, the two-year state budget. 

KY lawmakers increase money for kinship care in final budget 

“House Bill 500 contained language which gives the Dept. for Community Based Services (DCBS) the authority to implement Senate Bill 151 through its existing systems and processes,” Fisher said. “DCBS is using the funding it has access to that was included in the current state budget to support payments to eligible family caregivers.”

Norma Hatfield, a longtime kinship caregiver and advocate, has some concerns about the way the law is being implemented now — and what she sees as a lack of transparency around the new guidance. 

“When the funding came out, you had two years, you had a deficient regulation, and then you put a policy out there, it seems like quietly, without any public input,” she said. “Kinship caregivers deserve better. They — we — deserve a lot more than that. This thing should have been, to me, close to perfect after two and a half years, and that’s not what we got.” 

Hatfield has several main concerns about the policy as written, she said: 

1. “The placement decision process may be confusing and is tied to services and supports that differ depending on the path a caregiver takes. I feel that information about those options is not always consistent across the policy, forms, handbooks and public-facing materials, which can make it difficult for caregivers to make a fully informed decision.” 
2. “The qualifying-event application process — including the timeframes, notification methods and wording of the forms — may create unnecessary barriers for caregivers trying to access assistance.”  
3. “There are questions regarding Kentucky’s approach and about maximizing federal funds ensuring  protecting and supporting kinship caregivers.”   

She’s hoping for a full briefing with lawmakers and the cabinet to learn more about the full procedures to ensure potential kinship care families can both access help and do so without unnecessary confusion. 

In Late July, Fisher said the funds made available in the budget would go to relative and fictive kin foster parents receiving per diem for the children in their care. (Fictive kin are people who aren’t related to a child by blood or marriage but who have a strong connection with the child, such as a longtime family friend). 

Those payments depend on the age and needs of the child, according to Fisher. 

• Basic is the primary payment for foster families when they start and ranges from $27 to $47 for medically complicated children. 
• Advanced is a rate paid when foster parents have completed 2 years of fostering and 30 specific training hours. Payments for this range from $30 to $81. 

• Care plus is a level of foster parenting that requires specialized training to care for youth with complex behavioral health needs. They require both initial and ongoing training hours. 

• Medically complex requires specialized training, and the child must be deemed medically complex. 

“Team Kentucky believes every child should have a safe and loving home,” Fisher said, “and values the critical role of family caregivers in supporting children across our commonwealth.”