By Deborah Yetter
Kentucky Lantern
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.
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.”
‘A critical inconsistency’
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.
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.
Matt Bevin ‘tricky’
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.
Awaiting a ruling
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.
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