A former Republican Kentucky governor who advocated for child abuse prevention, allowed his adopted son to become a ward of Jamaica, according to a July 13 London Times investigation.
Matt Bevin served as Kentucky’s governor from 2015 to 2019. During that time, the Trump-endorsed Republican aimed to reform Kentucky’s child welfare system, often drawing from his own personal experience. He and his now-estranged wife, Glenna, had five children of their own and adopted four more from Ethiopia in 2012.
But once Bevin was ousted by then-Attorney General Andy Beshear as governor in 2019, one of his four adopted children, Noah, was cast away as a ward of the Jamaican government, after Matt and Glenna Bevin failed to pick him up from an abusive teen boarding facility they dropped him off at earlier that year, the London Times reported.
On Sunday, Bevin did not respond to a Herald-Leader request Sunday to comment on the story and answer questions. The Herald-Leader will continue its efforts to reach Bevin Monday.
Noah, who is now 17, was sent to a facility in Florida after his adopted father lost the governorship, and then transferred to the Atlantis Leadership Academy on Treasure Beach in Jamaica, according to the London Times article.
The Atlantis Leadership Academy has been the center of an investigation for allegations of abuse and neglect of the children in their care and was shutdown in February. In April 2024, five employees of the school were charged with child cruelty and assault. Allegations against the boarding school include children being beaten by staff, placed in a stress position for hours at a time, and being forced to workout until they vomit.
Noah told the London Times, he was not surprised. When asked why he thought Bevin adopted him, he muttered “public image,” the article shared.
The Bevin family was the largest to ever inhabit the Kentucky Governor’s Mansion, and a large part of Bevin’s work as governor was to advocate for child welfare in the commonwealth.
In February 2016, three years before his son would be sent off to the “structured boarding school,” Bevin was included as part of a “panel of experts” for adoption and foster care with the Child Welfare League of America.
At the event Bevin expressed the need for a greater effort and highlighted a new initiative targeted at hiring more social and caseworkers.
He recounted his first experience with the child welfare system when he shared frustration over why he and his estranged wife were denied the adoption of an 11-year-old child who had been in foster care for more than a year and who stayed in care after the denial, a press release from the 2016 event outlined.
Bevin attended rallies aimed at child abuse prevention. He spoke out against maltreatment in state care.
Glenna Bevin also used her position as first lady to promote child welfare safety. The two even held events at the state capitol in April, Child Abuse Prevention Month.
The couple were so discouraged by their adoption experience in Kentucky, they sought to overhaul the foster care system. In an interview with WKYT in 2017, Bevin said the couple wanted those in charge to stop trying so hard to reunite kids with birth parents when birth parents aren’t measuring up.
“We need to come up with a smarter, better way to use common sense and do what is best for the child, period,” Bevin said.
The London Times article revealed a guardianship hearing was held in April after the Atlantis Leadership Academy was reported to be closing. The Bevins were reportedly a no show.
In May 2023, Glenna Bevin filed for divorce after 27 years of marriage, citing that the couple’s bond was “irrevocably broken.”
The London Times’ article prompted backlash against Bevin. A former Republican state senator, Whitney Westerfield, who has also adopted children, expressed outrage on social media.
“Heartbreaking isn’t strong enough a word,” Westerfield wrote Sunday afternoon on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Disgust isn’t either. How do you abandon your child?!”
Beth Thorpe, communications chair of the Kentucky Democrats, also blasted the former governor.
“Bevin has enough money to give him around the clock care with professionals,” she wrote. “Instead, he sends him to another country and just washes his hands of him.”
Yup. This is the young man. I don’t care if there was huge amounts of issues. Bevin has enough money to give him around the clock care with professionals. Instead, he sends him to another country and just washes his hands of him. pic.twitter.com/njRQE1y0ZZ
— Beth Thorpe (@BethinLouavul) August 4, 2024
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