{"data":{"id":"us-ky/krs-200.575","jurisdiction":"us-ky","citation":"KRS 200.575","heading":"Family preservation services programs.","body":"(1) As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires:\n(a) \"Department\" means the Department for Community Based Services; and\n(b) \"Family preservation services\" means programs that:\n1. Follow intensive, home -based service models with demonstrated\neffectiveness in reducing or avoiding the need for out -of-home\nplacement;\n2. Provide such services that result in lower costs than would out -of-home\nplacement; and\n3. Employ specially trained caseworkers who shall:\na. Provide at least half of their servi ces in the family's home or other\nnatural community setting;\nb. Provide direct therapeutic services available twenty -four (24)\nhours per day for a family;\nc. Aid in the solution of practical problems that contribute to family\nstress so as to effect improved parental performance and enhanced\nfunctioning of the family unit;\nd. Arrange for additional assistance, including but not limited to\nhousing, child care, ed ucation, and job training, emergency cash\ngrants, state and federally funded public assistance, and other basic\nsupport needs; and\ne. Supervise any paraprofessionals or \"family aides\" made available\nto provide specialized services or skills to manage every day\nproblems and better provide and care for children.\n(2) The department shall be the lead administrative agency for family preservation\nservices and may receive funding for the implementation of these services. The\ndepartment shall:\n(a) Provide the coord ination of and planning for the implementation of family\npreservation services;\n(b) Provide standards for family preservation services programs;\n(c) Monitor these services to ensure they meet measurable standards of\nperformance as set forth in state law and as developed by the department; and\n(d) Provide the initial training and approve any ongoing training required by\nproviders of family preservation services.\n(3) The department may provide family preservation services directly or may contract\nto provide these services. In the event the department provides family preservation\nservices with state caseworkers, those caseworkers and cases shall be excluded for\nthe overall caseworker or case averages provided on a quarterly basis to the\nLegislative Research Com mission and the Governor's office under KRS 199.461.\nFamily preservation services caseworkers and cases shall be included in the report\nas a separate category.\n(4) If the department contracts to provide family preservation services, the contract\nshall include:\n(a) Requirements for acceptance of any client referred by the department for\nfamily preservation services;\n(b) Caseload standards per caseworker;\n(c) Provision of twenty -four (24) hour crisis intervention services to families\nserved by the program;\n(d) Minimum initial and ongoing training standards for family preservation\nservices staff; and\n(e) Internal programmatic evaluation and cooperation with external evaluation as\ndirected by the department.\n(5) Family preservation services shall be provided only to those children at imminent or\nmoderate risk of out-of-home placement:\n(a) Who are at risk of commitment as dependent, abused, or neglected;\n(b) Who are emotionally disturbed; or\n(c) Whose families are in conflict such that they are unable to exercise reasonable\ncontrol of the child.\n(6) Families in which children are at risk of recurring sexual abuse perpetrated by a\nmember of their immediate household who remains in close physical proximity to\nthe victim or whose continued safety from recurring abuse cannot be reasonably\nensured, shall not be eligible for family preservation services.\n(7) The implementation of family preservation services shall be limited to those\nsituations where protection can be ensured for children, families, and the\ncommunity.\n(8) The provision of family preservation services to a family shall constitute a\nreasonable effort by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to prevent the\nremoval of a child from the child's home under KRS 620.140, provided that the\nfamily has received timely access to other services from the Cabinet for Health and\nFamily Services for which the family is eligible.\n(9) Acceptance of family preservation services shall not be considered an admission to\nany allegation that initiated the investigation of the f amily, nor shall refusal of\nfamily preservation services be considered as evidence in any proceeding except\nwhere the issue is whether the Cabinet for Health and Family Services has made\nreasonable efforts to prevent removal of a child.\n(10) No family pres ervation services program shall compel any family member to\nengage in any activity or refrain from any activity, which is not reasonably related\nto remedying any condition that gave rise, or which could reasonably give rise, to\nany finding of child abuse, neglect, or dependency.\n(11) The commissioner of the department shall conduct and submit to the Legislative\nResearch Commission an annual evaluation of the family preservation services,\nwhich shall include the following:\n(a) The number of families receivin g family preservation services, the number of\nchildren in those families, and the number of children in those families who\nwould have been placed in out -of-home care if the family preservation\nservices had not be available;\n(b) Among those families receivi ng family preservation services, the number of\nchildren placed outside the home;\n(c) The average cost per family of providing family preservation services;\n(d) The number of children who remain reunified with their families six (6)\nmonths and one (1) year after completion of the family preservation services;\nand\n(e) An overall evaluation of the progress of family preservation services\nprograms during the precedin g year, recommendations for improvements in\nthe delivery of this service, and a plan for the continued development of\nfamily preservation services to ensure progress towards statewide availability.\n(12) Nothing in this section shall prohibit the department from developing other in-home\nservices in accordance with its statutory authority to promulgate administrative\nregulations in accordance with KRS Chapter 13A or to enter into contractual\narrangements in accordance with KRS Chapter 45.","path":["KRS Chapter 200"],"source_url":"https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=53317","current_through":"Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"09/05/2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T20:51:56Z","sha256":"3060fc7e21472a38d08008652bd35699b131b78a35fed50c87b8ad0f9706e503","source_id":"us-ky","stale":false,"prev":"us-ky/krs-200.560","next":"us-ky/krs-200.580"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}