605.120 Payments to home where children are placed -- Reimbursement system for
497 words·~2 min read·
/ky/605-120A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
foster parents -- Pilot projects -- Relative caregiver and fictive kin services
data reporting -- Decisions regarding haircuts and hairstyles.
(1)The cabinet is authorized to expend available funds to provide for the board,
lodging, and care of children who would otherwise be placed in foster care or who
are placed by the cabinet in a foster home or boarding home, or may arrange for
payments or contributions by any local governmental unit, or public or private
agency or organization, willing to make payments or contributions for such
purpose. The cabinet may accept any gift, devise, or bequest made to it for its
purposes.
(2)The cabinet shall establish a reimbursement system, within existing appropriation
amounts, for foster parents that comes as close as possible to meeting the actual
cost of caring for foster children. The cabinet shall consider providing additional
reimbursement for foster parents who obtain additional training, and foster parents
who have served for an extended period of time. In establishing a reimbursement
system, the cabinet shall, to the extent possible within existing appropriation
amounts, address the additional cost associated with providing care to children with
exceptional needs.
(3)The cabinet shall review reimbursement rates paid to foster parents and shall issue a
report upon request comparing the rates paid by Kentucky to the figures presented
in the Expenditures on Children by Families Annual Report prepared by the United
States Department of Agriculture and the rates paid to foster parents by other states.
To the extent that funding is available, reimbursement rates paid to foster parents
shall be increased on an annual basis to reflect cost of living increases.
(4)The cabinet is encouraged to develop pilot projects both within the state system and
in collaboration with private child caring agencies to test alternative delivery
systems and nontraditional funding mechanisms.
(a)The cabinet shall track and analyze data on relative and fictive kin caregiver
placements. The data shall include but not be limited to:
1. Demographic data on relative and fictive kin caregivers and children in
their care;
2. Custodial options selected by the relative and fictive kin caregivers;
3. Services provisioned to relative and fictive kin caregivers and children
in their care; and
4. Permanency benchmarks and outcomes for relative and fictive kin
caregiver placements.
(b)By September 30, 2020, and annually thereafter, the cabinet shall submit a
report to the Governor, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and the
director of the Legislative Research Commission for automatic distribution to
the Interim Joint Committee on Families and Children relating to the data
tracking and analysis established in this subsection and post the report to the
cabinet website for public view no later than February 28 of the following
year.
(6)Foster parents shall have the authority, unless the cabinet determines that the child's religion, race, ethnicity, or national origin prevents it, to make decisions regarding haircuts and hairstyles for foster children who are in their care for thirty
(30)days or more.