LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — For the second year in a row, a bill has been filed in the Kentucky legislature that aims to combat overcrowding and poor conditions in the state’s youth detention facilities. It also would address a years-long trend of troubled foster kids having to temporarily live in government office buildings.
Filed Thursday, Senate Bill 111 from Sen. Danny Carroll, R-Benton, comes just more than a week after a preliminary report from the Kentucky Office of the Ombudsman found that dozens of foster children stayed in office buildings over a four-month period in 2024 because there was nowhere else for them to go.
A 2024 WDRB News investigation revealed that in a span of two years, 281 troubled kids were removed from their homes to temporarily live in government buildings because there are not enough foster homes or residential treatment facility beds available.
Last year, Carroll filed legislation that would cost the state $165 million, the bulk of which would pay for new construction.
The bill did not pass, but Carroll filed a similar bill Thursday that would create physical structures and new standards for state officials working with the court system to ensure that children are placed in settings that match their needs.
“We did not get the job done last session,” Carroll told legislators on Thursday.
The bill also calls for the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet to construct a high acuity health facility for mentally ill children to be completed by February 1, 2026, if funds are available.
During a hearing Thursday, Carroll said the struggles with the bill has been the “price tag.”
“It’s a big investment for this state,” Carroll said. “(But) we still have kids in cells, isolated, minimum treatment that are acutely mentally ill. That is still occurring.”
The ombudsman’s preliminary report from Jan. 28, noted that Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Eric Friedlander testified in 2023 that CHFS would “pay what it takes” to ensure the children did not have to spend nights in state office buildings.
“A year has passed since Sec. Friedlander’s promise,” according to the report. “The (ombudsman’s office) continues to receive complaints of foster children being housed in state office buildings. … Children sleeping in state office buildings continues to be a problem.”
Carroll’s bill, like last year’s, proposed a new psychiatric youth facility with 16 beds. Last year he said the estimated cost would be $22 million. Carroll also pushed for two new places to be built for young girls, in central and western Kentucky, with the possibility of a third in northern Kentucky. Each would cost an estimated $45 million, he said previously.
Carroll did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
During the hearing Thursday, Carroll said the bill is “badly needed in the commonwealth. This will solve a lot of the problems we have.
“Every state has been looking for an answer to this problem,” he said. “I firmly believe this is the answer for the commonwealth.”
Since June 2022, Kentucky social workers have been removing some troubled kids from their homes to temporarily live in government buildings because there are not enough foster homes or residential treatment facility beds available.
In Louisville, for example, the Cabinet for Health and Family Services has housed children in the L&N Building, a 117-year-old office building at Broadway and 9th Street with no beds, showers or food providers.
Carroll previously said the bill would include construction of a new facility with 16 beds on the grounds of Central State Hospital in Louisville designed more for treatment than detention. The new building would specialize in treating kids who have displayed “manifest aggression, violence toward persons, or property destruction,” according to the bill.
That facility would take about 18 months to build and could be expanded if needed.
Also, Carroll has said there will be two new places built for female juveniles, in central and western Kentucky, with the possibility of a third in northern Kentucky. Each would cost an estimated $45 million.
The juvenile justice department would be given the power to reassign the housing of a child based on security concerns, staffing needs and classification.
The bill would require the juvenile justice department to enter into “sufficient contracts to ensure the availability of institutional treatment” for the most troubled children.
This story will be updated.
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