Family-court procedure
Published rules, procedural requirements, and the information people need to understand court processes.
The Kentucky Center for Judicial Transparency
Systemic Policy Analysis at the Intersection of Child Welfare, Family Law, and Civil Rights.
Examining the intersection of family law, civil rights, and DCBS administrative compliance within Kentucky’s 21st Judicial Circuit: Rowan, Montgomery, Menifee, and Bath counties.
21st Judicial Circuit
BathMenifeeMontgomeryRowan
For families / Start with understanding
Clear words.
Practical next steps.
21st Circuit area
Family law & custody →
Understand the case, prepare your questions, and find local court and legal-help resources.
Search a word or codeDCBS & court dictionary →
Look up SOP codes, forms, laws, and terms with official references and everyday explanations.
Records accessKORA, explained →
Find the right records route and prepare a request draft that stays in your browser.
For parents / DCBS case planning
Before you sign,
understand the plan.
What a signature can mean, how to participate, and where to raise questions. A practical guide grounded in Kentucky’s official sources.
01 / Research priorities
Understand the process.
Make the evidence accessible.
KCJT is developing source-based explanations and policy research. Our work begins with the rules and asks what the available record can establish.
Child-welfare administration
Agency policies, administrative responsibilities, and the sources that define them.
Public access & accountability
Records access, source transparency, and carefully defined questions about compliance.
A practical starting point
Better questions begin
with identifiable records.
Use our general request template, preparation notes, and tracking log to organize a public-records inquiry.
Open the records toolkitFoundational policy brief / 01
Evaluating procedural timelines
in Kentucky child welfare.
A source-based framework for hearing timelines, case planning, and placement review. This foundational brief sets out research questions and limitations; it does not report local audit findings.
Explore the research briefs ↗About the initiative
A clear purpose.
An independent perspective.
The Kentucky Center for Judicial Transparency (KCJT) is a new, independent research and public accountability initiative. Its framework is designed to monitor administrative policy compliance involving the Kentucky Court of Justice and the Department for Community Based Services (DCBS), with an initial focus on the 21st Judicial Circuit: Rowan, Montgomery, Menifee, and Bath counties.
KCJT aims to translate complex statutory codes into accessible research and clearly defined transparency measures. Its purpose is to support public understanding of family-law processes, civil rights, and administrative responsibilities. Findings will distinguish documented facts, reported concerns, research interpretation, and questions the evidence cannot resolve.
The Kentucky Center for Judicial TransparencyIndependent policy research and public education
Read our publication standards →KCJT’s research framework calls for open-records research, human-verified analytical tools, and transparent review of evidence and limitations.