DCBS services are administered through nine service regions and offices serving all 120 Kentucky counties. In addition, DCBS uses a network of contract officials to deliver services, such as child care. Service is enhanced through a close relationship and coordination with community partners.
The department provides family support; child care; child and adult protection; eligibility determinations for Medicaid and food benefits; and administration of an energy cost-assistance program.
The department administers the state foster care and adoption systems and recruits and trains parents to care for the state's children who are waiting for a permanent home.
With offices in every county, the department provides services and programs to enhance the self-sufficiency of families; improve safety and permanency for children and vulnerable adults; and engage families and community partners in a collaborative decision-making process.
The department was formed in the Cabinet for Families and Children in 1998 to give local offices more decision-making authority and the ability to collaborate more effectively with other community service providers.
Administrative Regulations Notice
September 2023
The Department for Community Based Services (DCBS) filed two proposed administrative regulation amendments with the Legislative Research Commission on September 7, 2023. The amendments are available for viewing
online. These are ordinary proposed amendments that are currently in the public comment period and will go through the full regulatory process prior to becoming effective, anticipated to be in early 2024.
922 KAR 1:520, Supplements to per diem rates. This administrative regulation establishes the criteria and process for supplements to foster home per diems specifically for caring for high-risk and parenting youth. The amendment to this administrative regulation updates the extraordinary care provisions for children in out of home care and streamlines the approval for a high-risk supplement for eligible children in out of home care in an effort to promote placement stability. This amendment is also necessary for consistency with recent amendments made to the levels of care established in 922 KAR 1:360. Material incorporated by reference, the
DPP-111B, is also being amended in a consistent manner.
922 KAR 2:280, Background checks for child care staff members, reporting requirements, and appeals. This administrative regulation establishes background check requirements for child care staff members, reporting requirements, and appeals. The amendment addresses non-compliances that were identified during the Department for Community Based Services (DCBS) Division of Child Care federal monitoring visit in 2022. Non-compliances addressed within this administrative regulation includes clarifying the need for child care staff members who are minors to complete background check components. The amendment also clarifies the federal requirement to repeat fingerprint-based background checks every five years and clarifies that the cabinet (not a provider) is responsible for obtaining information needed for out of state background checks if the other state doesn’t participate in the FBI National Fingerprint File Program. The amendment to this administrative regulation also increases the administrative fee for the fingerprint-based background check from up to twenty-five dollars to up to thirty dollars. The cabinet is currently using federal child care funds to cover this cost for providers.
July 2023
The Department for Community Based Services (DCBS) filed a proposed amendment to the regulation establishing standards for children’s advocacy centers, 922 KAR 1:580, with the Legislative Research Commission. The amendment is available for viewing
online. This is an ordinary proposed amendment that is currently in the public comment period and will undergo public and legislative reviews prior to becoming effective.
This administrative regulation establishes the program standards for children’s advocacy centers. This amendment includes references to and provisions from the National Children’s Alliance Standards of Accreditation for Children’s Advocacy Centers for implementation through the statewide network of children advocacy centers in Kentucky. These national standards ensure that children receive consistent, evidence-based services. The department worked closely with the Children’s Advocacy Centers of Kentucky in developing this amendment.
June 2023
The Department for Community Based Services (DCBS) filed a new family support administrative regulation and proposed amendment with the Legislative Research Commission relating to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and waiver approvals received by the federal government. The administrative regulations are 921 KAR 3:020 and 921 KAR 3:095 and are available for viewing
online.
House Bill 7 from the 2022 Regular Session of the General Assembly (codified as KRS 205.1783(1)) required the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to request waivers from the United States Department of Agriculture to implement an Elderly Simplified Application Project for individuals who have no earned income and who are over sixty years of age or are disabled and a standard medical deduction for individuals who are over sixty years of age or are disabled.
DCBS submitted the waiver requests to the federal government in 2022, and received approval to implement these programs in March 2023. These regulatory actions and changes in the SNAP are anticipated to assist individuals who are elderly or disabled with purchasing food. These are ordinary proposed regulations that are currently in the public comment period and will go through the full regulatory process prior to becoming effective, anticipated to be in Oct. of 2023.
May 2023
The Department for Community Based Services (DCBS) filed proposed amendments and new regulations with the Legislative Research Commission (LRC). These will be published on the
LRC website and
here.
922 KAR 2:180, Requirements for registered child care providers in the Child Care Assistance Program. This amendment addresses non-compliances that were noted during Kentucky’s federal monitoring visit conducted in 2022. The federal government has urged amendments be made in this administrative regulation for consistency with Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) rules. Through this amendment, only relatives of children in care will be able to be approved as registered child care providers. Non-relative providers will have to become certified child care providers. The DCBS Division of Child Care (DCC) has made Family Child Care Provider grant funding available to individuals who open a new certified family child care home. The grant application is available
online.
Because registered providers will only be relatives once effective, many requirements are being deleted from this administrative regulation, including a notice of intent to apply. 45 C.F.R. 98.42(b)(2)(ii) provides the authority for license-exempt child care providers, which includes relatives, to operate as long as they comply with health and safety standards. This includes grandparents, great grandparents, siblings (if they live in a separate residence), aunts, and uncles providing care for children related to them. Forms incorporated in this administrative regulation are also being amended to clarify that registered child care providers will be required to be related to the children in their care.
DCC-96 Application for Registered Child Care Provider in Child's Home Changes
922 KAR 1:360&E. Private child care placement, levels of care, and payment. This amendment increases the per diem rates for specific levels of care provided for children with the highest needs in the custody of the state. The annual audited cost report and time study and preliminary data from the most recent rate study have been evaluated and the Department for Community Based Services (DCBS) has determined that a mid-cycle inflation adjustment is necessary to adequately reimburse child-placing and child-caring providers. Because documentation and analysis show that this rate increase is justified and needed, federal funding will be utilized in implementing this amendment. Documentation that the department received from the Children’s Alliance requests that, “this rate increase be implemented as soon as possible as private child-caring and child-placing agencies are struggling to cover their rapidly rising costs given the swift and unprecedented inflation rates, respond to the workforce crisis that has ensued since the pandemic and meet the increased need for behavioral health services. Providers need financial relief as soon as possible…”.
Material incorporated by reference is also being amended to reflect this rate increase. The emergency version is in effect. The ordinary amendment also requires a private foster home agency to reimburse its foster homes at least what corresponding public foster homes are reimbursed for providing care. This version will undergo public and legislative review prior to becoming effective.
922 KAR 2:245 and 2:255. These administrative regulations establish the process for child care provider staff to voluntarily apply for and obtain these new child care credentials – infant and toddler and school-aged youth development. Credentials assist in increasing the professionalism in the early childhood education field. Additionally, this will help increase the quality of trainings offered across the state, as they are specialized and focused on the age group and content area of the credential. When providers take trainings tailored to the age group of children they serve, it increases the quality of care for those children and their families. New forms are incorporated in these administrative regulations.
Mission
The mission of the Department for Community Based Services is to build an effective and efficient system of care with Kentucky citizens and communities to:
- Reduce poverty, adult and child maltreatment and their effects;
- Advance person and family self-sufficiency, recovery and resiliency;
- Assure all children have safe and nurturing homes and communities; and
- Recruit and retain a workforce and partners that operate with integrity and transparency.
Our Vision
A human services system of care that operates with integrity and loyalty to a code of ethics requires courage to take responsibility for providing the highest quality of service to the vulnerable.
The Department for Community Based Services is an innovative, solutions-focused learning organization built on a foundation of transparency in action and with accountability for results. Both in the organization and among our partners, we thrive on a culture of respect for diversity of opinion that is nurtured through open communication.
Highly performing and committed, we are unified in our goal of excellence in achieving outcomes for those we serve with the level of quality we would demand for our own families.