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Kentucky changes COVID-19 policy, allows parents court ordered visits with children

A Kentucky mother's heart is less empty, hope has returned now that she'll get to see her children.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — No one at the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services has explained to us why supervised visitation for non-custodial parents were canceled and if the cabinet consulted with Governor Beshear before enacting the restrictions. 

What we do know is that the policy changed days after our story aired on December 11

To a mother with whom we listened, none of that really matters now. Her heart is a bit less empty tonight because she was finally able to visit with her children.

“They were so excited that I barely got the door opened and they were like bum rushing me”, the mother said with a laugh.

It was great to hear the joy in the anonymous mother's voice, a welcomed tone compared to that interview on Friday.

She asked us not to show her face because she's fighting to regain custody of her four children following the breakup of a marriage that involved domestic violence.

She has court-ordered supervised visitations but a November 20 memo cited COVID-19 and canceled those visits for the mother and all families in the same situation.

RELATED: Kentucky cancels supervised visitation for non-custodial parents due to pandemic

Monday, the policy changed and led to a visit Wednesday and a rearranged schedule that means she'll get to see her children on Christmas day as well.

“I'm hoping that the story had something to do with it that, it brought awareness and that they really thought about it and reconsidered and realized the damage that was being done, she said.

When asked whether she was happy that she shared her story with us, she answered, “Yes, because no one knew. No one knew what was going on unless you were a family in the CPS system.”

The mother knows she has more work to do before she can regain full custody and insists that she remains focused on the path ahead and her requirements. She hopes to have all four of her children back in her arms again, full time, by March. 

   

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