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Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bevins ‘paid for pain, not protection,' says lawyer for former governor's adopted son
Jonah Bevin, adoptive son of former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin and Glenna Bevin, speaks to attorney Dawn Post, left, in court in Louisville, March 21, 2025. (Photo by Michael Clevenger, Courier Journal, via press pool) Lawyers for Jonah Bevin, the adopted son of former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, have filed a sharply worded reply to claims Matt Bevin filed under seal April 25 in which he responds to 'certain assertions' made by his estranged son. In a response Tuesday, Dawn J. Post, a lawyer and child advocate representing Jonah, disputes assertions that Matt and Glenna Bevin — who are now divorced — spent 'significant resources' on care for the youth they adopted around age 5 from Ethiopia. In reality, most money was spent on a series of out-of-state residential facilities for Jonah, starting at age 13, culminating in his abandonment at age 17 at the Atlantis Leadership Academy, a brutally violent youth facility in Jamaica that was shut down by child welfare authorities in 2024, Post said in a 10-page affidavit. 'The Bevins paid for pain, not protection,' Post's affidavit said. 'Jonah's harm stemmed from the decisions of those responsible for his well-being, not his own actions.' While Matt Bevin portrays Jonah as a 'troubled teen,' Post responds his behavior and emotional well-being were worsened by harsh and sometimes abusive facilities, most of all the Jamaican facility where youths allege brutal beatings and treatment that amounted to torture. Matt Bevin claims to have filed his affidavit under seal 'due to the sensitive nature of the content,' lawyer John H. Helmers, who also represents Jonah, said in a filing Tuesday that accompanies Post's affidavit. Their filing is public. The Bevins did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Former KY Gov. Matt Bevin's adopted son reportedly removed from abusive facility in Jamaica The filing comes in the midst of a court battle between Jonah and his adoptive parents over the son's claims of abuse and neglect and allegations the couple abandoned him in Jamaica. As part of the case, Jonah has obtained protective orders against Matt and Glenna Bevin, barring them from direct contact with him, in part because he alleged they tried to get him out of the country this year on a hastily arranged trip to Ethiopia. The Bevins claimed to have located Jonah's birth mother they had previously told him was deceased, according to court records. Jonah has since said in a court filing he believes 'they were trying to get me to disappear.' Matt Bevin, in his affidavit, said during a period in October 2023 when he was living with the Bevins, Jonah was charged with assaulting and threatening to kill a family member. Post's affidavit said Jonah has never denied the incident, an apparent altercation with his father, and entered a diversion program under court supervision in Jefferson County to resolve the charges. But the event highlights a 'critical inconsistency,' Post's affidavit said. It says Jonah — while supposedly under court supervision, was removed in late 2023 at age 17 and sent out of the country to Jamaica with no notice to the court or family court judge who was then presiding over the Bevins' divorce case, including oversight of their minor children. 'Why was this court never informed of his removal and custodial status at that time?' it asks. Post's affidavit also provides the first detailed account in the court record of Jonah's alleged abandonment in Jamaica by the Bevins and their refusal to intervene on his behalf after he was removed from the Jamaica facility along with six other youths by child welfare officials. Matt Bevin alleges he worked on Jonah's behalf but Post, in her affidavit said 'Matt Bevin did the exact opposite and Glenna Bevin did not intervene on Jonah's behalf.' Instead, she said, through her involvement in the court case she learned Matt Bevin was seeking to keep Jonah in Jamaica. 'I don't have anybody': Adoptive teen son of a KY governor talks about life on his own Post said, she, as a child advocate, spent three weeks in Jamaica in 2024 working on behalf of the youths removed from the facility, including Jonah, and said the Bevins were only parents who did not 'engage' with the U.S. embassy or Jamaican child welfare authorities to assist in his care and return 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. At a court hearing in Jamaica, the defense lawyer for the Atlantis Academy — whose employees are facing abuse charges in Jamaica — claimed he had been retained by the Bevins to speak on Jonah's behalf and argued for the facility to be reopened and Jonah returned to it, Post's affidavit said. Post described Jonah as 'noticeably withdrawn' and said he told her he was aware his family did not want him back. As a result, Jonah was placed in custody of the Jamaican child welfare system while Post and various authorities in that country and the United States tried to work out a placement in the United States, settling on a provider in Florida. Officials needed approval of Jonah's parents, but were unable to reach them to obtain their assistance, the affidavit said. Post, in her affidavit, said she then called Glenna Bevin herself. In a recorded call, Glenna Bevin told her she agreed with the plan but she and Matt Bevin disagreed. She said she would try to reach her then-husband but warned he could be 'tricky' and that he 'doesn't always respond' to attempts to contact him. Glenna Bevin also asked Post to share her contact information with officials because 'Matt Bevin had allegedly left her out of Jonah's care and protection.' Jonah Bevin returned to the United States in May 2024, three months after he was removed from the Jamaican facility, after officials with the U.S. embassy obtained the Bevins' consent, Post's affidavit said. 'I worked for weeks with Jamaican and U.S. Embassy authorities to arrange and pay for Jonah's return flight to the United States on which he was accompanied by a U.S. State Department representative,' Post's affidavit said. His return came 'despite the work of the Bevins to keep him in Jamaica' and 'at no cost to the Bevins,' it said. Post's affidavit said Jonah remains traumatized by the events and, since legal proceedings began earlier this year, underwent a comprehensive evaluation at a Child Advocacy Center of his physical and emotional health. 'The Bevins have never initiated an inquiry into the long-term impact of the trauma Jonah suffered while in their care, nor have they ever asked him about the continuing effects of the abuse and neglect,' Post's affidavit said. 'There has been no meaningful effort to address the harm Jonah suffered both in Jamaica and in prior placements,' it said. Jonah turned 18 last November after returning to the United States from Jamaica but has questioned in a court filing whether that birth date is accurate, citing a recently obtained adoption document that shows a different birth day, which would make him just 17. Meanwhile, Jonah is still awaiting a ruling from Jefferson Family Court Judge Angela Johnson on his request to intervene in the case to protect his interests. He has said he is living on his own without support from the Bevins and spent his 18th birthday in a homeless shelter. Jonah and the Courier Journal have both objected to the Bevins' request that their proposed divorce settlement, which the judge must review, be kept confidential. Following a hearing last month, Judge Johnson said she hopes to rule as soon as possible. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Nobody checking on me': Matt Bevin's adopted son asks for financial assistance
The adopted son of former Kentucky governor Matt Bevin is asking to intervene in his parents' divorce case in hopes of obtaining the financial support he says his parents did not give him after they sent him to an abusive facility in Jamaica. When Glenna Bevin, the former first lady, filed for divorce from the one-term governor in 2023, Jonah Bevin was 16 and living at Atlantis Leadership Academy in Jamaica. He was later held in the care of Jamaican child welfare services after they discovered facility staff were physically and emotionally abusive. The Bevins have five biological children. Jonah is one of four children the Bevins adopted from Ethiopia. 'My parents didn't tell the court anything about my circumstances in Jamaica at all,' Jonah wrote of the divorce in an April 21 filing. 'They didn't try to include me or even check on how I was doing. It's like I was invisible to them. Despite the fact that I was a minor, there were no provisions in the divorce that related to my support. There were no plans made for me to come home, no real guardian, and nobody checking on me. 'I'm asking the court to let me be a part of this divorce case because what's happened in it has affected my life in huge ways, ways that have been ignored, twisted or just left out by my parents, Matt and Glenna Bevin.' In a court hearing to weigh in on this request Monday, John Helmers, Jonah's attorney, said his client is seeking financial support until he can get his college diploma. 'There's an ongoing duty for the parties in this action to continue to contribute until (Jonah's) legal emancipation date,' Helmers said. But Matt Bevin's attorney called this request a ploy to 'garner media attention and invoke outrage,' but said the love he has for Jonah is 'unshakable.' Glenna also asked via her attorney that the court not to allow Jonah to intervene in the divorce case, saying in an April 18 filing, 'Glenna would like to make clear that she is very sad that it must be dealt with as it has. She loves her son Jonah and wants only the best for him. But she does not wish for her son to be able to debate parenting choices with her in court.' This petition from Jonah — and his parents' respective responses to that request — is the latest in a public display of familial friction relationship between Jonah and the Bevins, who adopted him at the age of 5. The Bevins in 2023 sent Jonah to the behavioral health facility in Jamaica, where some staff were later arrested and criminally charged with abuse. Jonah, who said he felt abandoned by the Bevins, was granted an emergency protective order in March against Matt and a restraining order against Glenna, after he said they pressured him in February, while providing few details, to board a flight to Ethiopia to meet family they'd otherwise told Jonah his whole life were dead, including his mother. In 2023, Glenna filed for divorce, and it was finalized last month. That case has become inextricably wrapped up in the family court case involving Jonah. But the Bevins have asked a judge to keep their divorce settlement under confidential seal. In a Monday afternoon hearing in the case, Matt Bevin's attorney, Jesse Mudd, said his client is not currently the governor, has been out of office for longer than the four years he served in office and therefore he and Glenna are 'private individuals.' But Michael Abate, counsel for the Courier Journal who is arguing for the settlement to be kept public, disagreed. 'This is not your average case by any stretch of the imagination. The public interest prong weighs more heavily here than it would in a routine case,' he said. 'We have a former governor and first lady who made adoption (and) child care the center of their political platform and career. And now we've seen very serious allegations that they failed to provide for one of their minor adopted children. 'If an average family has to see the terms of their divorce decree in the court record, (the Bevins) are asking for special treatment, because they were political leaders.' Helmers, Jonah's attorney, said his client is seeking financial compensation in part to help finish pay for his college education and to recoup his attorney's fees. 'There's an ongoing duty for the parties in this action to continue to contribute until (Jonah's) legal emancipation date,' Helmers said in the April 21 court hearing. 'I am seeking to have a word in the divorce because my parents abandoned me, both physically and financially,' Jonah wrote in a case filing. 'I am seeking the court's assistance for support and to allow me to complete my education.' Both Glenna and Matt asked Judge Angela Johnson not to allow Jonah to intervene in their divorce, arguing there's no legal basis for it. Mark Dobbins, Glenna's attorney, said Jonah's adoptive parents 'have spent more on Jonah probably than any of their children. We don't see any other children complaining to the court.' Jonah 'has difficulties (but) this divorce case is not the place for Jonah's difficulties to be addressed.' In addition to accusing Jonah and his attorneys of intending to 'garner media attention and invoke outrage,' Mudd said, 'the truth is entirely different, and it is heartbreaking to Matt to see his son being caught up in this web.' Mudd wrote, 'Jonah is deeply loved by his entire family and has always been cared for emotional and financially to the best of his parents' ability, just as has been done for every single one of their children. When all the noise fades away and the circus has moved on, his family will still be there to whatever extent Jonah needs or wants, because that is what family means and that is what family does.' Mudd added that the former Kentucky governor has 'unshakable love and commitment for his son.' In another court filing, Jonah said it 'saddens my heart to hear my father say that he loves me and supports me when I had to sleep under 24/7 security because of the threats made against us (in Jamaica), or that my mother says that she is sad about what happened. 'Where was the love that my parents said they had for me? Because they didn't show it when they left and ignored me. Other parents came and got their kids. My parents either lied or left out the truth over and over. Because of that, I've been on my own. The court can't just let this go like it didn't happen. I'm not just a name on paper, I'm a real person,' Jonah said. 'I've been trying to survive by myself. Now I'm trying to speak up because nobody has done it for me.' As a stipulation of the protective and restraining orders Jonah was granted against his adoptive parents after he said he felt coerced to fly to Ethiopia, the Bevins are required turn over any documentation they have about Jonah's biological family, if it exists, so Jonah can contact his family. Specifically in the restraining order against Glenna, she was mandated to provide to Jonah's attorneys 'any and all information in her possession regarding Jonah's adoption, including but not limited to documents, communications and notes related to his adoption by or between herself and the respondent and the adoption agency or biological family.' Glenna's attorneys turned over 'all the records she has about the adoption,' Dobbins said Monday in court. That documentation includes Jonah's original adoption records, including the names of his parents. But it did not include recent or identifiable information about his family members, leading Jonah's attorneys to believe that information does not exist, they told the Herald-Leader. 'We now fear that the proposed trip to Ethiopia was never legitimate, that Jonah was nearly sent away with no safeguards, no answers, and no way back,' child advocate Dawn Post, one of Jonah's attorneys, told the Herald-Leader. 'This is exactly why the (restraining) order remains necessary,' she said. 'The person who should have protected Jonah — his own adoptive mother — was involved in sending him to Ethiopia without providing any identifying information. 'Jonah may not fear his mother directly, but he does fear how she acts under the influence of Matt Bevin.' As for the notion that the Bevins have spent more money on Jonah than their other children, Post said, 'the money spent on Jonah was not too much; it was misused. Those resources were wasted on programs that traumatized him, not healed him. They paid for pain, not protection. 'That is not Jonah's fault.'
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin cannot have contact with adoptive son, judge rules
Former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin was ordered by a Louisville judge Tuesday to have no contact with one of his adoptive sons after the son sought an emergency protective order against him earlier this month. Judge Angela Johnson extended for six months an emergency protective order brought by 18-year-old Jonah Bevin, who alleged Bevin exhibited a pattern of 'threatening,' 'intimidating' and 'manipulative' behavior toward him. The Bevins adopted Jonah from Ethiopia when he was 5. Until a few weeks ago, Jonah was homeless and living in Utah. Johnson's actions Tuesday were part of an agreement reached between Jonah and his adoptive parents, who first appeared in court together Friday. Former First Lady Glenna Bevin, who appeared virtually Tuesday, is also barred from contacting Jonah by way of a civil restraining order, though she was not the primary subject of Jonah's protective order. The domestic violence order against her was dismissed. Glenna filed for divorce from the one-term governor in 2023; it was finalized this month. Jonah was granted an emergency protective order against Bevin on March 7. Neither Matt nor Glenna had extensive contact with Jonah for months until recently, when they both contacted him about traveling to Ethiopia to visit his birth mother, whom Jonah had long been told was dead, he testified Friday. That disclosure unnerved Jonah, who said he has long distrusted 'Matthew,' including for abandoning him at Atlantis Leadership Academy in Jamaica, where staff were physically and emotionally abusive, he said — an experience detailed in an extensive interview in Kentucky Lantern last month. Jonah said his adoptive father pressured him to go to the East African nation but provided few details about the trip. As an incentive, Bevin texted Jonah a picture of his biological mom and told him she was alive. 'They'd told me my whole life my mom has been dead. And now they told me she's alive. You told me it was a secret,' Jonah said to Bevin in court last week. 'I would never keep a secret like that.' Jonah said he feared he was being lured to another country to be abandoned again, so he sought a protective order to legally prevent his adoptive father from contacting him. If Bevin does not violate the emergency protective order over the next six months, Johnson said Tuesday, it will be replaced by a civil restraining order. Violating a protective order can result in arrest and up to a year in jail, whereas violating a restraining order carries a lesser criminal penalty. While the EPO is in place, the former governor — who signed a bill legalizing permitless concealed carry in Kentucky as governor — is barred from possessing any firearms and must stay at least 500 feet away from Jonah. Both the protective and restraining orders prohibit Bevin from having any 'direct or indirect' contact with Jonah, the judge explained. The agreement also requires the Bevins to turn over to Jonah's attorneys 'any information or documents related to (Jonah's) biological family, whether they're alive or not,' Jonah's attorney John Helmers said. 'That is very important to him.' 'Sadly, that should not be required for this young man to learn about his family,' Johnson said. 'That should be done, regardless. And I'm going to leave that there.' 'Agreed,' Bevin nodded and mumbled. In Friday's initial hearing, Bevin did not have an attorney present and instead represented himself. He directly questioned Jonah, at first referring to himself in the third person. The hearing eventually devolved into a periodically tense exchange, offering insight into Jonah and Bevin's fraught relationship. Jonah at times raised his voice, and Bevin had to be warned more than once to stop interrupting Jonah's responses. Zach Buckler, a Lexington-area attorney, represented Bevin on Tuesday. Johnson asked Buckler if his client understood the parameters of the settlement, including that any information related to Jonah's birth parents be disclosed to Jonah's attorneys. 'Have you explained this to your client?' Johnson asked. 'Yes, your honor, my client understands the EPO remains in effect and subjects the violating party to the arrest powers of the police, and that a civil restraining order subjects the violating party to the arrest powers of the court,' Buckler said. 'I do believe my client is fully informed as to what the requirements are as to what his expectations should be as it relates to both of those orders.' 'While this is in effect, you can't contact him by social media, by third party, by message through a pigeon, you cannot contact him,' Johnson told Bevin and his attorney. 'You can't post on social media a message that is meant for him. Any violation of this will be considered a criminal offense.' After the hearing, while he waited for the elevator, Bevin did not answer reporters' questions, including why he didn't go to Jamaica to pick up Jonah after he was removed from the facility by the country's child protective services. Glenna issued a statement through her attorney, Steve Romines. 'This situation has been extremely difficult and painful for our entire family. I am glad it is over and the case against me is dismissed,' she said. 'I love my children and want what is best for all of them.' Outside the courtroom after the hearing, Jonah, smiling, said he 'felt like the judge understood' his plight. 'It looks like to everybody that Matt Bevin had everything figured out in his life, but he had nothing figured out,' Jonah said. 'There's an image they want people to see, and they don't want an image of what's actually going on in their homes. 'And today, we brought it out. We brought out what he didn't want people to see.'
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former Gov. Bevin's adopted son files protective order against parents
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (FOX 56) — Matt Bevin's adoptive son has filed a protective order against the former governor and his estranged wife, Glenna. According to court records, the protective orders were filed on Friday in a Jefferson County Court. Former Gov. Bevin's adopted son allegedly became ward of Jamaica after troubled-teen program disbands Former Gov. Matt Bevin barred from wife's home amid divorce and harassment allegation As a result, court documents show that the former governor has been ordered to surrender any guns that he owns. In an interview with the Kentucky Lantern, Jonah revealed that he was the adoptive son the Bevins allegedly abandoned at a Jamaican troubled-teen boarding school. 11:11 Media Impact has been diligently working to protect and advocate on behalf of the American boys removed from Atlantis Leadership Academy in Jamaica. These boys, including Former Governor Bevin's son, were taken into the custody of Jamaica after experiencing horrific abuse and have since been returned to the United States, and placed in alternative more appropriate placements. It is our understanding that Noah is safe and we will continue to look out for the welfare of all children who experience institutional child abuse and neglect. 11:11 Media Impact Jonah, now 18, told the Kentucky Lantern that he's now living on his own in Utah, working part-time construction jobs and finding temporary places to live, receiving no assistance from his adoptive family. Soldiers from Fort Campbell deployed to southern border Pineville pair charged after hidden gun, drugs, bags of cash found during Laurel County traffic stop Former Gov. Bevin's adopted son files protective order against parents A 2024 London Times investigation took an unexpected turn, revealing that former Gov. Matt Bevin's adopted son was one of the three boys left behind when the Atlantis Leadership Academy (ALA) dismantled, a school that promised the ideal environment for healing. Instead, several staff members were arrested in connection with the reported abuse students endured. Jonah told the Kentucky Lantern he'd once attempted to escape, only to return and be brutally beaten. 'I was bleeding from my nose, mouth,' he said. 'They made me clean it up with a mop. They made me clean up my own blood.' Read more of the latest Kentucky news The Bevin couple filed for divorce in July of 2024, the former governor even being barred from his estranged wife's home. The case was eventually sealed by a Jefferson County judge. A protective order hearing has been set for March 19. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Jonah Bevin obtains protective order against adoptive father former KY Gov. Matt Bevin
Jonah Bevin photographed in his Louisville hotel, March 7, 2025. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Deborah Yetter) A judge has entered an emergency protective order against former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin sought by his adopted son, Jonah Bevin, now 18, directing him to have no contact with Jonah until the matter can be heard in court. The order does not include Glenna Bevin, Jonah's adoptive mother, but directs her to appear at the March 19 court hearing. In a statement to the court, Jonah alleges his adoptive parents, Matt and Glenna Bevin, abandoned him in a brutally abusive facility in Jamaica last year and sought to send him to Ethiopia, his birthplace, last month after he went public with his allegations in an interview with the Kentucky Lantern. 'I now believe they were trying to get me to disappear,' Jonah's statement said. The Bevins, who are divorcing, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In his interview, Jonah said that at the Jamaican facility, he endured several months of severe beatings, death threats, waterboarding and being buried in sand before Jamaican child welfare authorities shut down the Atlantis Leadership Academy in early 2024, citing abusive conditions. They removed eight youths, all Americans. Jonah and child advocates who worked to relocate the youths have said the Bevins declined to act on his behalf or return him to the United States. As a result, he for a time ended up in the custody of the Jamaican child welfare system. It is a startling turn of events involving the former Republican governor who campaigned on improving the state's adoption and foster care system and his wife, who as first lady, made child welfare her primary focus. Matt Bevin, as a candidate and later governor, often mentioned the Bevins' adoption of four children from Ethiopia, including Jonah, took them to public events along with the couple's five biological children and posted frequent photos on social media. Jefferson Family Court Judge Angela Johnson granted the order Friday just a few hours after Jonah, who traveled to Louisville with child advocacy lawyer Dawn J. Post Thursday, filed the petition in Jefferson County. Johnson also is the judge handling the pending divorce case of the Bevins, Jonah also filed a police report Thursday with Louisville Metro Police, alleging he was abandoned in Jamaica by the Bevins.. A final copy of the report is not yet available. Post, who specializes in what she calls 'broken adoptions,' said they are hoping the report will prompt authorities in Kentucky to consider criminal charges in the case. According to Kentucky law, abandonment occurs when a parent or guardian 'deserts the minor in any place under circumstances endangering his life or health and with intent to abandon him.' It is a Class D felony, the least serious, and carries a penalty of one to five years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000, Jonah, in his statement, also details multiple incidents of abuse and neglect he said involved him after the Bevins adopted him at age 5 and a group of three siblings from Ethiopia in 2012. He said he was slapped, struck and grabbed and at one point assaulted by someone connected to the family. Jonah, said he was last homeless in Utah after he turned 18, said in the statement he would like to return to Kentucky but is afraid to do so because without court protection. 'Due to the nature of the threats, abandonment and neglect, I have reasonable cause to believe that further harm may occur without the issuance of an immediate protective order,' his statement said. 'I don't have anybody': Adoptive teen son of a KY governor talks about life on his own Post has said she is working to find a more suitable placement for Jonah. In his first public comments since he left the Jamaican facility in February 2024, Jonah told the Kentucky Lantern last month he experienced brutal beatings and other mistreatment at the Atlantis Leadership Academy, which promoted itself as 'the perfect location for healing.' It was one of several residential facilities his parents sent him to, starting at age 13 he said. After Jamaican authorities removed the youths from Atlantis, Jonah said the Bevins made no effort to come to his aid, leaving him in custody of that country's child welfare system. Advocates for the youths said they were unable to reach the Bevins to arrange his return to the United States. Jonah said he and two other boys at Atlantis, also Black and both adopted, were the last to leave Jamaica after their adoptive families took no action to help return them. 'At that point, I didn't think nobody cared about us — especially the Black kids,' he told the Kentucky Lantern. Adopted at age 5 from an Ethiopian orphanage, Jonah said that after turning 18, he was living on his own in Utah with no support from the Bevins, who are wealthy and live in Anchorage, an affluent enclave east of Louisville. He said he was living in temporary housing, supporting himself with part-time construction work. At the Jamaican facility, conditions including beatings, waterboarding, threats, ridicule and food deprivation are alleged in more than a dozen federal lawsuits pending in Florida against Atlantis, and its affiliates. Jonah is not among former residents who have filed the lawsuits but is considering joining the litigation, Post said. Among defendants in the lawsuits against Atlantis are the facility's founders, Randall and Lisa Cook, a husband and wife who have not responded to any of the lawsuits. 'Randall Cook allegedly fled the jurisdiction of Jamaican law enforcement authorities in April 2024 to escape prosecution,' one of the lawsuits said. It said multiple former staff members are facing criminal charges of abuse and neglect in Jamaica. The Cooks could not be located for comment and the Atlantis phone number does not work. Jonah, in an interview, described a violent beating from facility staff after he attempted to escape three days after his arrival at Atlantis in December 2023. 'I was bleeding from my nose, mouth,' he said. 'They made me clean it up with a mop. They made me clean up my own blood.' After that, 'I was getting beaten every day.' He and seven other youths, all but one under 18, would remain there until Jamaican child welfare authorities conducted a surprise inspection in February 2024, removing them. Jonah said that he and two other youths, all Black and all having been adopted in the United States, were abandoned by their families and placed in custody of Jamaican child welfare authorities. He and Post said that lawyers for Atlantis and some parents appeared at court hearings in Jamaica arguing that the youths were exaggerating or lying about the abuse and that the facility should be reopened. That effort failed and Jamaican authorities began working to try to get the youths home. Bevin, a Christian conservative, served as governor from, from late 2015 through 2019 before he was defeated in his bid for a second term by current Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat. As governor, Bevin promoted adoption and called for sweeping improvements to the state child foster and adoption system he said had obstructed the Bevins' effort to adopt a child in Kentucky. During his 2015 campaign, Matt Bevin was highly critical of Kentucky's adoption system and said in a 2017 interview on KET his desire to reform it was 'the driving reason I made the decision to run.' Matt Bevin said in the KET interview the introduction of four adopted Black children who spoke no English into his household went smoothly. 'It has been a very, very seamless transition,' Bevin said. But Jonah had a different recollection, telling the Kentucky Lantern that he as early as age 8 didn't feel like he fit into the household, struggling to master English and trying to overcome learning disabilities. He said he clashed with others in the home, including Glenna Bevin, whom he said was largely in charge of overseeing the children. 'I was getting in trouble,' he said. 'When I couldn't speak English, if I did something wrong, I couldn't understand.' At age 13, Jonah said the Bevins sent him to what would be a series of out-of-state residential facilities for youths before he wound up at Atlantis in Jamaica in late 2023. He said he was taken there in handcuffs by a 'transport team' hired to move him from a residential center in Utah. Conditions at Atlantis first reported last year in the Sunday Times of London, attracted international headlines after celebrity hotel heiress Paris Hilton flew to Jamaica in April to aid the youths as part of her advocacy work to reform what she calls the 'troubled teen' industry that victimized her. She has created a foundation, 11:11 Media Impact to promote her advocacy. Jonah said he had no idea of Hilton's celebrity or advocacy but was grateful for her support and the attention generated by her visit. Post, who said she specializes in working with children from 'broken adoptions,' said the problem is more widespread that people realize and that a for-profit industry has developed purporting to help such youths, It includes consultants, who help parents identify facilities, transport teams that take youths—sometimes forcibly–to such places and loosely regulated residential facilities, some outside the United States. Meanwhile, she said a Gofundme account she started to help support Jonah is doing well, with more than $13,000 raised in just a few week. He already has used some of the proceeds to buy clothes and other necessities, she said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
