The environment created by the nontraditional placements was “rife with risks of sex trafficking, physical abuse, and other forms of abuse and negligence,” according to a new state report.
The year-long investigation identified 304 placements between January 2023 and October 2024, with some lasting weeks.
Story Highlights
An independent investigation found 304 Kentucky foster children were housed in nontraditional settings — including state office buildings, hotels and parks — between January 2023 and October 2024.
The report said these placements exposed children to serious risks, including sex trafficking, abuse, missed medical care, and a lack of schooling or therapy.
Investigators described the practice as a “terrible solution to a solvable problem” and urged the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to implement reforms and expand placement options.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — An independent report found that more than 300 Kentucky foster children were forced to stay overnight in state office buildings, hotels, parks, and other locations over a 22-month period, creating an environment investigators described as “rife with risks of sex trafficking, physical abuse, and other forms of abuse and negligence.”
These nontraditional placements, known as NTPs, date back to 2022 and were previously highlighted in an investigation that showed some foster children staying overnight in the L&N building on West Broadway in downtown Louisville. The new report, released Monday morning by the Commonwealth Office of the Ombudsman, accuses the Cabinet for Health and Family Services of continuing to house vulnerable Kentucky children in state office buildings and other non-family or non-therapeutic environments, despite years of promises to resolve the issue.
The investigation, which lasted a year, found 304 placements between January 2023 and October 2024. Some lasted for weeks and occurred in the following locations:
269 placements in CHFS offices
17 placements in hotels
16 placements in state parks
11 placements in hospitals (not admitted)
7 placements in community centers
1 placement in a private child placing or private child caring office
“Housing children in state offices is a terrible solution to a solvable problem,” the report stated. “Yet, to the detriment of Kentucky’s children, CHFS’s promised solution remains undelivered.”
The report also detailed several troubling incidents tied to these placements.
At least one child in state care reported being a victim of sex trafficking after running away from the location where she was staying.
One child was forcefully slammed to the ground by a provider during an emergency placement by CHFS.
Another child who ran away from a nontraditional placement was later found with someone wanted by law enforcement for murder.
One child who fled an NTP and remained missing for 264 days died three weeks before his 18th birthday.
At least two children were placed for extended periods in out-of-state facilities that had documented investigations and deficiencies related to allegations of neglect, sexual misconduct by staff against residents, and the use of chemical injections as restraints.
In one case, a CHFS social worker gave a child staying in an office building a Ouija board to occupy their time, despite the worker stating that it conflicted with her faith.
Eighty-three children experiencing suicidal thoughts or behaviors were housed in office buildings without psychiatric care, suicide-safe design features, or trained clinical supervision.
Investigators also identified ongoing concerns involving missed medications, interruptions in schooling, and a lack of appropriate therapies for children in state care.
In 81.2% of cases, investigators found no clear evidence that medical care, medication management, therapy continuation, or school attendance were maintained while children stayed in nontraditional settings.
“The lack of suitable and appropriate placement options has escalated into a crisis, forcing Kentucky to place children in settings that were never designed or intended for housing children,” the report stated.
The report also highlighted transparency problems, unreliable record-keeping, and a lack of clear policies. It further claims CHFS attempted to limit access to information and often failed to cooperate fully with investigators. Kentucky Auditor Allison Ball said improving communication will be critical to solving the problem and protecting children.
“They are the boots on the ground,” Ball said Monday. “They are the ones that have to actually implement these things, so this works best when we do have good communication back and forth.”
The state investigation recommended several reforms for CHFS, including creating a comprehensive plan with short- and long-term strategies to stabilize the system, developing formal regulations and procedures for unregulated placements, strengthening recruitment and retention of trauma-informed foster parents, and creating an electronic system to replace parts of the current paper medical passport process.
Investigators also recommended establishing a standardized cost methodology for nontraditional placements and providing children with clear timelines and daily updates about placement searches and potential moves to reduce uncertainty and anxiety.
“We call upon CHFS leadership to look to those solutions and bring to finality the promise it made years ago to stop housing vulnerable abused, neglected, and dependent children in state office buildings,” the report stated.
How we got here
In July 2023, CHFS first publicly acknowledged the placements, stating that nearly 90 Kentucky foster children had slept on cots in government buildings and showered at YMCAs that year after being unable to secure appropriate placements.
At the time, CHFS said the children involved were often the most severe cases in the foster system, primarily teenage boys. Reasons for the lack of placements ranged from histories of violence or fighting to intellectual disabilities. The first instances of children staying in social workers’ offices began in rural communities in 2022. By the summer of 2023, the practice had become a frequent alternative when psychiatric residential treatment facilities lacked available beds or refused placements.
“It was a very shocking story that sent shockwaves throughout Kentucky,” Ball said Monday.
By August 2024, the placements were still occurring. State data obtained through public records requests showed that 144 children spent at least one night in a hotel or state office space from July 2022 to July 2023. From that point until February 2024, another 137 children stayed in those locations for at least one night, bringing the total to 281 children in less than two years.
In Louisville, the downtown L&N building was one of the identified locations used for temporary housing.
“There’s not a lot that surprises me just because I don’t think the community at large understands the severity of the situation and the importance of it,” said Rep. Sarah Stalker, D-Louisville. “So I think people have to get super creative because obviously if we cannot find a placement for a child, we need to make sure that their basic needs are being met.”
Typically, CHFS said one to three children statewide stayed overnight in temporary situations for one to two days at a time. The longest consecutive stay the department recorded for one child was 17 nights.
In February 2025, Sen. Danny Carroll, R-Benton, filed Senate Bill 111 after a preliminary report from the Kentucky Office of the Ombudsman found that dozens of foster children had stayed in office buildings over a four-month period in 2024 because there was nowhere else for them to go. The bill proposed building a new psychiatric youth facility with 16 beds and establishing two new facilities for young girls in central and western Kentucky, with the possibility of a third in northern Kentucky. Each facility was estimated to cost $45 million.
However, the bill did not gain significant support and never advanced to a full vote in either the House or Senate.
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