From left, Norma Hatfield, Auditor Allison Ball and addressed an interim legislative committee, Oct. 23, 2024. (Screenshot)
Kentucky Auditor Allison Ball has launched an inquiry into whether the Beshear administration can implement a law aimed at helping kinship care families.
Ball’s office will look at what money, if any, the cabinet has available and if federal dollars could help with implementation, she said, and is the result of an official complaint filed by Norma Hatfield, president of the Kinship Families Coalition of Kentucky.
This comes amid a monthslong $20 million dispute between the General Assembly and the Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS) that’s kept a 2024 law from going into tangible effect and helping Kentuckians who are raising minor relatives.
“We have a lot of reasons to be involved in this issue,” Ball told members of the Interim Joint Committee Families and Children Wednesday. “At this point, we are going to make all attempts to make this a collaborative effort with the governor and CHFS but rest assured, we’re going to do everything that we can to figure out the facts.”
The new law, which went into effect — on paper — in July, allows relatives who take temporary custody of a child, when abuse or neglect is suspected, to later become eligible for foster care payments. This is much needed relief for the thousands of kinship care families in Kentucky, advocates have said.
‘Flabbergasted:’ Help for kinship care families passed unanimously. $20M price tag could derail it.
Beshear alerted lawmakers to what he called a funding omission in an April letter — five days after he signed Senate Bill 151 into law. He asked them to use the final two days of the 2024 session to appropriate the $20 million for implementation.
Cabinet officials have said they cannot implement the law without the money, while lawmakers have pressed them to apply for federal funding or use existing budget dollars.
Hatfield thanked the auditor for getting involved.
“There are a lot of families, the longer we wait, that are missing opportunities for more long term support that deserve it,” she said. “And I’m just very grateful.”
Sen. Julie Raque Adams, R-Louisville, who sponsored the law, told Ball it is “wonderful that you have engaged because I know how important these issues are to you as well.”
A cabinet spokeswoman has not yet responded to a Lantern email seeking comment.
This story may be updated.