Jonah Bevin, who was 5 when Matt and Glenna Bevin adopted him in Ethiopia, is asking for a voice in the former governor’s divorce case in Jefferson Family Court. (Photo provided)
Jonah Bevin, the adopted son of former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin and his wife, Glenna, has filed a legal action asking to intervene in their pending divorce case, which the couple told the court this week they are ready to settle.
Now 18, Jonah — who alleges he was abandoned at age 17 by the Bevins at a brutally abusive youth facility in Jamaica — is asking for a voice in the divorce case in Jefferson Family Court he said could impact him.
“At present, no one who has Jonah’s interest is involved in the litigation,” said the motion filed Wednesday by Louisville lawyers John Helmers Jr. and Melina Hettiaratchi. “Jonah’s best guess is that his parents never revealed their abuse and neglect of him to this court, including their failure to meet his basic needs and to provide a safe home and a complete education as required by law.”
The Bevins did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Dawn J. Post, a New York lawyer and child advocate also representing Jonah, said he has been “denied the basic support and recognition owed to him” and seeks to ensure some provision is made for his welfare as part of the divorce settlement the couple has asked the court to keep confidential.
Matt Bevin is a business entrepreneur whose wealth was estimated in millions of dollars when he ran for governor in 2015. Glenna Bevin does not work outside the home, according to court records. The couple has owned several homes in Louisville, each valued at more than $1 million, according to property tax records.
Post said Jonah should be considered in any settlement.
“While they attempt to divide their assets, Jonah has been left to fend for himself in abusive programs and was abandoned in Jamaica during the pendency of the divorce when he was a minor under the court’s jurisdiction,” she said.
“No parent should be allowed to abandon their child without consequence,” Post added.
Jonah’s motion is the latest twist in a flurry of legal activity since he went public about his experiences in a Feb. 28 story in the Kentucky Lantern.
On March 7, Jonah — who has been living on his own since he turned 18 — obtained an emergency protective order against Matt Bevin, alleging he experienced neglect, physical abuse and threats after he was adopted at age 5 by the couple.
He said he was first sent to a series of out-of-state residential facilities at age 13. After he returned from Jamaica, he was placed in a residential facility until he turned 18 last year.
Since then, Jonah said he has been living out of state, with no permanent home, working part-time construction jobs to support himself
He also has filed a report with Louisville Metro Police, alleging the Bevins abandoned him at age 17 at the facility closed last year by Jamaican authorities. The Bevins declined to respond to authorities seeking to return him to the United States, he said.
Jonah is one of four children adopted from Ethiopia by the Bevins, who as governor and first lady, promoted adoption and child welfare as their priorities. The couple also have five biological children; all but one are adults.
Matt Bevin, a one-term Republican governor and conservative Christian, campaigned on reforming the state’s adoption and foster care system, which he said obstructed the Bevins’ effort to adopt a child in Kentucky, prompting them to adopt from overseas.
Jonah’s motion filed Wednesday alleges that the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, which investigates child abuse and neglect, currently is conducting “an active” investigation involving child welfare.
As a candidate for governor, Bevin, in a 2015 interview, denounced the cabinet as a “convoluted, backward broken machine” and blamed one of its employees — “someone with a clipboard and a notebook”— for rejecting the Bevins as adoptive parents because they already had five children.
Jonah’s motion follows the Bevins’ report to the court on March 11 that they had reached a “marital settlement agreement” in the divorce action initiated by Glenna Bevin in May 2023 and asking that the court keep it confidential.
“Allowing the media and public to access the parties’ personal financial information and terms of settlement would be contrary to this goal and detrimental to the Bevin family,” it said. Further, making the settlement public “would only serve idle curiosity and gossip and not legitimate public interest.”
But Jonah’s pleading argues that he should be allowed to intervene in the case and have access to the information to protect his interests as well as those of a minor child still with the Bevins.
“The current parties, Jonah’s parents, have repeatedly shown they have little interest in protecting him and his rights to a safe home and a complete education,” it said. “In fact, their interests may be diametrically opposed to Jonah’s.”
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