FRANKFORT, Ky (December 22, 2025) - Today, Auditor Allison Ball submitted a formal comment letter to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS) regarding Governor Beshear's proposed regulatory changes that fail to give kinship caregivers what they need as they care for children who cannot be with their parents. The comment letter coincides with public comments delivered by Auditor Ball's General Counsel, Alexander Magera, at today's hearing on the regulation.
“The family members who step up to care for foster children across the Commonwealth are making heroic and sacrificial choices," Auditor Allison Ball said. “It is time to implement Senate Bill 151 and meet the clear and growing needs of kinship families across the Commonwealth."
Auditor Ball's comment letter raises concerns that the proposed regulation would further delay implementation of Senate Bill (SB) 151 by unconstitutionally conditioning its execution on an appropriation of an unspecified amount of State General Funds. As explained at the public hearing and in the comment letter, there is available funding that could be used to implement SB 151 right now. Refusing to execute SB 151, therefore, is unconstitutional, unlawful, and just plain wrong.
In 2024, SB 151 was unanimously passed by the General Assembly and signed into law by Governor Beshear, with the goal of making it easier for children who have been removed from their homes to be successfully placed with relatives or fictive kin. The law was intended to provide kinship caregivers with additional time to make a crucial custodial choice that has long-lasting impacts for the children in their care.
Following the bill's passage, Governor Beshear later alleged that the General Assembly did not appropriate sufficient funding for SB 151 and refused to implement the law.
To find out whether that alleged funding problem is true, the Auditor's Office has been investigating the Governor's and CHFS's failure to implement SB 151. The Auditor's Office filed a lawsuit seeking to compel Governor Beshear and CHFS to carry out the law as enacted.
To read the full comment letter, click here.