Residential child-caring facilities in Kentucky caring for foster children with elevated needs are getting a rate increase to better support those children. Governor Matt Bevin and Cabinet for Health and Family Services Secretary Vickie Yates Brown Glisson signed an emergency regulation amending the state’s existing regulation guiding private child-caring facilities. The change takes effect October 1 and increases the payment rates for children assessed at the highest level of care- Levels IV and V.

CFHS’s Department for Community Based Services is the state agency that oversees the public foster care system and determines payment rates for levels of care. Glisson said the increase better reflects the actual costs of caring for children with advanced needs. CFHS maintains a monthly average of 1,100 children who are assessed as needing care at Levels IV and V in residential child-caring facility placements. As of August 9, there are 46 licensed child-caring facilities in Kentucky.