Commonwealth Policy Center

State Auditor Allison Ball announced that she has received “numerous” complaints about foster children sleeping in state office buildings without proper supervision, and she announced that she will investigate. Estimates suggest that about 300 children (usually older kids with special needs) have slept in offices for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services in recent years. One cause is a shortage in the number of available foster families. And the problem is exacerbated by hard to place children. The solution must involve more foster families stepping up and a better system for short-term housing. Over 8,000 foster kids in Kentucky don’t have a home. Consider this: If two families from every church in Kentucky took a child, that number would be zero.