Ky.gov
Effective: 7/29/26

G1.26 Expungement of Records or Partial Records

Legal Authority

Introduction

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Expungement is the legal process that allows a petitioner to seek and obtain a court order to effectively delete their records, or portions of their records, for the purpose of a background check, any general search, or any other use by the agency. Once a court orders a record expunged, the incidents covered by those records are treated as though they never occurred.


Practice Guidance

​Expungement proceedings may be specific to a single investigation, multiple investigations, a specific period in a case, or the entire case. Court-ordered expungements will make specific references to the material being expunged to guide the agency's actions in executing an expungement.

If a petitioner requests that the Department for Community Based Services (DCBS) records be included in a petition for expungement, the court will set a hearing on the request and provide notice to the relevant agencies. It is important that DCBS communicate a timely decision between the local office and the Office of Legal Services (OLS) regarding whether the agency plans to oppose the petition. If the court ultimately orders an expungement, the department has thirty (30) days to appeal. It is important that the local office and OLS communicate about any petitions for expungement or expungement orders issued by the court, since the orders may not be distributed consistently across jurisdictions, and since the timely dispute of an expungement order has real consequences for the agency to ensure that alleged perpetrators are correctly listed on the central registry.DCBS should not proceed with an expungement unless the agency is specifically named by the expungement order, and only after the period for an appeal has expired. Expungement orders are typically issued on the AOC 497 form or the AOC JV 29 form.​

The Division of Protection and Permanency maintains a ​record of completed expungements. These records will not be available to an ordinary record search unless directed by the OLS.



Procedure

Protection and Permanency (P&P) Staff: 
  1. ​​Ensures that the petition for expungement is forwarded to the county of substantiation and OLS immediately upon receipt;
  2. In the county of substantiation and OLS, determine if the department will challenge the petition and participate in the hearing accordingly;
  3. In the county of substantiation and OLS will make a timely decision to appeal an order of expungement and pursue the appeal accordingly; 
  4. Forward an expungement to the Division of Administration and Financial Management (DAFM) Records Management Section;
Records Management Section Staff: 
  1. Work together with the Division of Protection and Permanency (DPP) to verify that: 
    1. The order specifically lists DCBS or child protective services (CPS) as agencies included in the written expungement order; and 
    2. That DCBS has decided not to challenge the expungement, or has exhausted its avenues to challenge the order. 
  2. Work together with DPP to analyze the order and only expunge that which is specifically referenced per the expungement; and
  3. Work together with DPP to expunge any existing hard copy records and TWIST records and retain a copy of the expungement order for verification of the completion of the expungement; 

Documents

Revisions