Former Kentucky governor’s son claims he adopted him for ‘public image’ - then abandoned him in Jamaica

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The adopted son of former Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin claims he was used to boost the Republican’s public perception during his gubernatorial bid and was later abandoned, according to a report.

In 2012, Bevin traveled to Ethiopia and returned with four children — including 5-year-old “Noah,” a pseudonym used to protect the minor, the UK newspaperThe Times first reported. Noah, now 17, claims the Bevins sent him to an abusive troubled teen program in Jamaica.

When the Times asked Noah why he believed he was adopted by the Bevins, he replied: “Public image.”

Bevin served as the state’s governor from 2015 to 2019. After Bevin lost the governorship in 2019, Noah was sent to a facility in Florida and then was later sent to the Atlantis Leadership Academy (ALA) in Jamaica.

ALA bills itself as an “affordable, structured Boarding Academy serving young men who possess strong leadership skills, though they’ve taken some wrong turns in their lives.” However, the Times’ investigation of the facility revealed abusive practices and filthy conditions.

ALA was raided in February and the facility has since shut down. But no one came to pick up Noah, he told the outlet. So, a judge made Noah and two other abandoned boys wards of the Jamaican state.

Bevin’s alleged treatment of his adopted son comes into sharp contrast with his gubernatorial campaign focus: improving adoption and foster care practices in Kentucky.

In 2015, he told the Louisville Courier-Journal that the state agency that oversees adoption “has to be turned inside out,” calling it “a convoluted, backward, broken machine.”

Two years later, he echoed this complaint to WKYT in 2017 — adding that his plans to reimagine these systems contributed to his gubernatorial bid.

“We’ve made it so convoluted, bureaucratic, confusing, time-consuming, and frustrating that people finally say enough. This was our experience. It’s part of why we’re sitting here. It’s a part of why I ran for governor,” he told the outlet in 2017.

Bevin and his wife Glenna have nine children in total: five biological and four adopted children. Glenna filed a divorce petition in May, claiming the couple’s marriage was “irretrievably broken,” according to court records.

The Independent has emailed lawyers for both of the Bevins for comment.