Media overreacts to Kentucky foster kids living in office buildings, senator says

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Nearly three years after troubled foster kids were forced to temporarily live in government office buildings, Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Eric Friedlander told legislators that while the problem is slightly improving, it is ongoing with no end in sight.

“We still have this issue,” he said. “We have tried lots of different things to try and address this. We are not comfortable with the situation at all.”

Somewhat surprisingly, Sen. Danny Carroll, R-Benton, who just last week proposed a bill that would address this years-long trend, in part, by constructing more buildings for kids to stay, downplayed their placement in office buildings, saying the media was blowing it out of proportion.

“I think the cabinet is doing everything they can,” Carroll said during a Senate Family and Children Committee legislative meeting. “The media plays up that they are in an office, but it’s not that simple. I’m not as concerned about them being in an office. I’m concerned about what happens in that office. … And I think that’s where we have to focus.

“Overall, the kids are not staying there very long.”

A recently released preliminary report from the Kentucky Office of the Ombudsman said kids have stayed at the buildings as long as 35 days. While the Cabinet for Health and Family Services reported Tuesday the longest stay is 25 days.

During a 2023 hearing on the issue, Carroll said, “This is beyond crisis at this point” about children staying in office buildings.

On Tuesday, however, Carroll suggested the office buildings could be turned into temporary shelter buildings for children.

“I don’t think we can get so wrapped up in ‘They’re in offices! They’re in offices!’ That’s not the issue,” he said. “It’s what’s happening in the offices and if they are getting care.”

The fact that kids have had to stay in office buildings, such as the L&N building in Louisville, because there has been no other options, has been seized on by the media, Carroll said, while he is more concerned with the security, staffing and conditions of the living quarters in the buildings.

“We can’t get wrapped up in the media blowing this out of proportion,” he said, while also acknowledging that “there is no question” it’s still a problem. “Right now, until we can get this solved, the focus has got to be the offices themselves and what’s happening there.”

To Carroll’s point, Friedlander said conditions have improved in the office buildings since 2022, showing a slide to legislators that there is a now a two staff members to one child ratio, a security guard on site, furnished bedrooms with a television and study areas, recreational areas and laundry services.

But Friedlander also made clear that this wasn’t a long-term solution and pushed Carroll’s Senate Bill 111 that would pay for new construction and combat overcrowding and poor conditions in the state’s youth detention facilities.

“We need to build something,” he said. “There is no question we need some sort of facility in Kentucky where the focus is these kids, and we can provide services. … There is a need for something else that we don’t have.”

The L&N Building, a 116-year-old office building at Broadway and 9th Street, has no showers or food providers. Food has been brought in and kids have been taken to the YMCA to shower.

Carroll’s bill was introduced just more than a week after the ombudsman report 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. During the hearing Tuesday, officials said the Kentucky Office of the Ombudsman is working on a more in-depth report.

A 2024 WDRB News investigation revealed 281 troubled kids were removed from their homes in a span of two years to temporarily live in government buildings because there are not enough foster homes or residential treatment facility beds available. In the same 2024 report, family attorney Allison White told WDRB News renovations of state offices speaks to the issue having no clear end in sight.

“If this is a short-term issue, this is a one time thing, those steps probably aren’t necessary,” she said.

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 last week 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.

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 Feb. 1, 2026, if funds are available.

During a recent hearing, Carroll said the struggles with the bill has been the “price tag.”

The ombudsman’s preliminary report from Jan. 28 noted that 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 detention centers 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 hasn’t responded to a request for comment.

Since May 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.

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.

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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