10.27 Travel Expenses for the Out of State Family

Legal Authority

The Cabinet may reimburse travel expenses for out of state families (who cannot pay) to attend a pre-placement conference or visit a Kentucky child.
Travel requests cannot be processed unless both states have signed the Interstate Compact on Placement of Children 100A forms approving the proposed placement.
The Kentucky SSW cannot incur any travel expenses other than the SSW’s own expenses on a personal credit card. If the SSW does so, there is no assurance that the SSW will be reimbursed.
The SSW cannot use a personal credit card for any of the family's expenses.
The family must obtain, save and submit all receipts for covered expenses. No expense will be reimbursed without a receipt, regardless of the amount even it is less than ten dollars ($10). This includes, but is not limited to, children’s meals and parking.
When the family prefers to drive, a travel request is submitted containing a notarized estimate of round trip mileage at the current state billing rate, hotel, and meal expenses. Receipts must be submitted for reimbursement in the same fashion.
The travel request for the potential adoptive family includes all anticipated trips (dates of departure and return), destinations, and an itemized list of all expenses to be reimbursed.
Final approval is granted by the director of the Division of Protection and Permanency.

The child’s SSW:

Completes the following tasks when the out of state family needs some or all of their travel expenses paid by the Cabinet:

Negotiates the request directly with the family;
Calls the travel agency to obtain the cost of the flight making the airline reservations;
Contacts a local hotel for costs;
Prepares a travel request memorandum and submits it at least two (2) weeks prior to the expected date of travel;
Determines from the travel agency where the tickets will be sent;
Makes lodging reservations at a hotel or motel convenient for visitation with the child;
Arranges for the local or regional office to be billed for lodging expenses; ¹
Informs the family that if needed, a reservation for a rental car must be made through their credit card; ²
Notifies the family’s SSW and the family directly of all travel plans and reservations.

The Travel Authority:

Notifies the travel agency and the SSW when the approval for the travel is granted, and sends copies of the approval memorandum to field staff for use when submitting bills for travel reimbursement.

The SRA:

The SSW, in consultation with the regional billing specialist may explore with Kentucky state parks whether they are willing to direct bill to the local office.
Families are told that car rental agencies usually do not accept payment in cash and require a credit card. The SSW does not use a personal credit card to obtain the rental.
The family should be encouraged to meet any of the travel expenses they are able to meet.