This story is by the Kentucky Lantern, which is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. More of Kentucky Lantern’s work can be found at kentuckylantern.com. Follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
Former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin is back in court making another effort to keep his estranged, adopted son from intervening in his divorce case.
In a pleading filed Wednesday with the Kentucky Court of Appeals, Bevin’s lawyers are asking the court to vacate a ruling from Jefferson Family Court Judge Angela Johnson that Jonah Bevin, now 19, may intervene in any settlement reached by the wealthy ex-governor and his former wife, Glenna.
The appeals court in October had rejected an appeal of the matter by the Bevins, saying such an appeal could not be pursued until the case was resolved in family court.
While the Bevins’ divorce was finalized in March 2025, a proposed settlement remains pending while Jonah seeks to be a party, arguing he was neglected, deprived of an education and sent to an abusive child residential center in Jamaica at 17.
Jonah is among four children the Bevins adopted from Ethiopia. They also have five biological children; all but one are adults.
Matt Bevin’s pleading argues that the family court’s ruling permitting Jonah to intervene — seeking educational services and child support — is clearly erroneous.
“Simply stated, there is no law in Kentucky that allows a child to intervene in his parents’ divorce case,” said the pleading styled as a petition for a writ of mandamus seeking emergency relief from a lower court.
But lawyers for Jonah said the action filed by the one-term Republican ex-governor is yet another delaying tactic.
“This is another attempt by this disgraced governor . . .to leverage the court system to conceal his conduct or delay access to justice and accountability,” said a statement from Jonah’s lawyers, John Helmers and Melina Hettiaratchi. “This is not the act of a family-focused man.”
It added that Bevin is using “extremist talking points” to deprive Jonah of resources, stating “Jonah simply seeks the support he is entitled to under Kentucky law and in the eyes of any caring parent.”
Bevin, a conservative Christian, ran for governor in 2015 on a campaign of promoting adoption and foster care, often citing his own family’s experience.
The Bevins’ lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.
Matt Bevin’s pleading states that unless the appeals court intervenes, allowing Jonah to intervene in the divorce settlement would cause “great injustice and irreparable injury” to the Bevins. It also “would create a dangerous precedent in Kentucky divorce cases going forward,” it said.
But Dawn J. Post, a New York lawyer and child advocate who first intervened to help Jonah after he was removed from the Jamaican facility, said the only danger is to Jonah if he is excluded from the case.
“Jonah continues to struggle today as a direct result of years of abuse, coercive control, institutionalization, abandonment, and effective disappearance during his childhood,” Post said in an email. “If irreparable harm exists here, it is not the product of judicial deliberation. It is the result of years in which a child’s needs were subordinated, his welfare marginalized, and his existence treated as an obstacle rather than an obligation.”
Post has said in a court filing that she spent three weeks in Jamaica in 2024 working on behalf of the youths removed from a brutally violent facility, including Jonah, and said the Bevins were the only parents who did not “engage” with the U.S. embassy or Jamaican child welfare authorities to assist in the care and return of their child to the United States. The case attracted international media attention after hotel heiress and celebrity Paris Hilton — an advocate for children in the so-called “troubled teen” industry — flew to Jamaica to aid the youths.
Bevin’s pleading also asks the court to rule before a family court case scheduled for March 27, saying it would cause “unwarranted public scrutiny regarding private family issues.”
It added: “The divorce case has already garnered substantial attention from the media and general public, and that attention will only intensify if there is a public hearing pitting the former governor of Kentucky and his ex-wife against their adult son.”
This article appears in Jan 1-31, 2026.