Foster Care

Foster kids in Tennessee are being denied the basic right to education, healthcare and stable homes and instead kept in unsafe institutions or bounced through multiple foster families for years at time, a lawsuit filed Monday on behalf of 13 children alleges.

Kentucky officials and foster care agency leaders gave testimony this week before members of the state senate to explain why some kids in the Commonwealth’s custody are still being housed in agency office buildings, and what steps are being taken to get them into better situations.

Tennessee has one of the largest foster care populations in the country. And a new report from Belmont Innovation Labs has found that those youth are suffering once they age out of the system.

The Tennessee Department of Children’s Services, already facing a class action lawsuit over its treatment of disabled kids, is placing children with no known disability diagnoses for months at a time in privately-run group homes designed to support adults with disabilities, according to child advocates.

Seeming miscommunication between Kentucky cabinet officials and a lawmaker could mean legislation designed to extend benefits to relative caregivers and keep kids out of foster care won’t be implemented over the next two fiscal years.

Families say they feel pressured by state officials who emphasize the needs of children in state custody over disabled adults.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has signed a law confirming that parents with anti-LGBTQ views are allowed to foster and adopt queer kids. The law comes after the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed a new rule requiring LGBTQ foster kids to be placed in supportive environments.

Just over half of Kentucky’s 120 counties, including Jefferson, need people to join the state’s Citizen Foster Care Review Boards.

Capacity remains an issue, as Tennessee has closed facilities but opened no new ones.

This year’s Kids Count County Data Book shows Kentucky has improved in some metrics, though there is still room for improvement.