Effective and responsive government programs shape whether families can easily find and access the services their children need – and Kentucky lawmakers are exploring examples of streamlining programming and improving stewardship of funding dedicated to children through the development of a Children’s Cabinet.
Example: Ohio
During the August meeting of the Interim Joint Committee on Families and Children, the legislative members listened to a presentation from Ohio on reorganizing their state programs focusing on children and youth to house them under one department. The presentation highlighted how Ohio created a more efficient system to serve the state’s children by:
- Taking 18 months to create a detailed plan on how to transfer jobs, duties, funding, and personnel to one state organization
- Creating shared data, shared accountability, and shared funding
- Setting three distinct goals for the redesign: reducing the rate of infant mortality, increasing kindergarten readiness, and reducing the rate of children entering foster care
What’s amazing is that Ohio conducted this transformation without using any additional funding, and the majority of the changes were able to be implemented in the first six months. Also, by reducing duplicative funds between divisions, Ohio was able to repurpose enough funding to implement the 211 resource phone number statewide so that families can find resources in every community throughout the state.
Example: New Mexico
The August meeting was not the first time that the committee members have spent time learning about the benefits of a children’s cabinet. A presentation during the October 2025 committee meeting highlighted New Mexico’s Children’s Cabinet, which now includes the following departments:
- The Early Childhood Care & Education Department
- The Health Care Authority
- The Children, Youth, and Families Department including Behavioral Health and Child Protective Services
- The Department of Health
New Mexico has been able to use the organization of the Children’s Cabinet, along with additional state funding, to implement universal child care. When Secretary Groginsky has spoken about the importance of implementing a Children’s Cabinet instead of creating a Children’s Department, she has mentioned how important it is that the Secretary of the Cabinet gets to sit down at the table with all of the other cabinet leaders and reinforce the essential needs of children and families.
Example: Connecticut
The House Primary and Secondary Education Committee also examined early childhood governance in March 2026 to discuss a proposed resolution for a task force, as well as a deeper look at Connecticut’s Children’s Cabinet. Beth Bye, Connecticut’s previous Commissioner of Early Childhood, came to speak about how her state created an Office of Early Childhood.
Making the Case in Kentucky
To date, many states are starting to understand the benefits of combining all of their children’s programs under one cabinet for more efficient distribution of services. Those include:
- Less duplication of services within agencies and confusion over programs offered
- Data sharing agreements between agencies within the cabinet
- Improved efficiency and service delivery effectiveness
- Alignment of funding in order to successfully use investments to benefit families
- Statewide shared goals for children and families
- Increased collaboration to improve access for children and families
Because of these benefits, fourteen states have now created a children’s cabinet or children’s department to better serve families with young children and adolescents. This includes states that have similar program needs to Kentucky like Alabama, Georgia, Kansas, and Ohio.
Since every state has a slightly different model, the next step for Kentucky is to decide what structure would support our state the best. Some states, like Texas, have created a task force to learn more about the possible benefits of children’s cabinets and to determine what structure (a cabinet or a department) would best benefit their own state’s needs. Kentucky can follow their lead and create its own task force to further research the programs and departments that should be a part of this potential cabinet.
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