{"data":{"id":"us-ky/krs-605.120","jurisdiction":"us-ky","citation":"KRS 605.120","heading":"Payments to home where children are placed -- Reimbursement system for","body":"foster parents -- Pilot projects -- Relative caregiver and fictive kin services\ndata reporting -- Decisions regarding haircuts and hairstyles.\n(1) The cabinet is autho rized to expend available funds to provide for the board,\nlodging, and care of children who would otherwise be placed in foster care or who\nare placed by the cabinet in a foster home or boarding home, or may arrange for\npayments or contributions by any loc al governmental unit, or public or private\nagency or organization, willing to make payments or contributions for such\npurpose. The cabinet may accept any gift, devise, or bequest made to it for its\npurposes.\n(2) The cabinet shall establish a reimbursement system, within existing appropriation\namounts, for foster parents that comes as close as possible to meeting the actual\ncost of caring for foster children. The cabinet shall consider providing additional\nreimbursement for foster parents who obtain addition al training, and foster parents\nwho have served for an extended period of time. In establishing a reimbursement\nsystem, the cabinet shall, to the extent possible within existing appropriation\namounts, address the additional cost associated with providing c are to children with\nexceptional needs.\n(3) The cabinet shall review reimbursement rates paid to foster parents and shall issue a\nreport upon request comparing the rates paid by Kentucky to the figures presented\nin the Expenditures on Children by Families Annual Report prepared by the United\nStates Department of Agriculture and the rates paid to foster parents by other states.\nTo the extent that funding is available, reimbursement rates paid to foster parents\nshall be increased on an annual basis to reflect cost of living increases.\n(4) The cabinet is encouraged to develop pilot projects both within the state system and\nin collaboration with private child caring agencies to test alternative delivery\nsystems and nontraditional funding mechanisms.\n(5) (a) The cabinet shall track and analyze data on relative and fictive kin caregiver\nplacements. The data shall include but not be limited to:\n1. Demographic data on relative and fictive kin caregivers and children in\ntheir care;\n2. Custodial options selected by the relative and fictive kin caregivers;\n3. Services provisioned to relative and fictive kin caregivers and children\nin their care; and\n4. Permanency benchmarks and outcomes for relative and fictive kin\ncaregiver placements.\n(b) By September 30, 2020, and annually thereafter, the cabinet shall submit a\nreport to the Governor, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and the\ndirector of the Legislative Research Commission for automatic distribution to\nthe Interim Joint Committee on Families and Children relating to the data\ntracking and analysis established in this subsection and post the report to the\ncabinet website for public view no later th an February 28 of the following\nyear.\n(6) Foster parents shall have the authority, unless the cabinet determines that the child's\nreligion, race, ethnicity, or national origin prevents it, to make decisions regarding\nhaircuts and hairstyles for foster chil dren who are in their care for thirty (30) days\nor more.","path":["KRS Chapter 605"],"source_url":"https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=56529","current_through":"Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"09/05/2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T21:00:07Z","sha256":"7cac21a43bf045502400061f24328e4d9af72771d65a3a53b425a34dbbac4a24","source_id":"us-ky","stale":false,"prev":"us-ky/krs-605.115","next":"us-ky/krs-605.121"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}