MATTHEWS, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 16, 2025--
Thompson Child & Family Focus (Thompson), a national leader in trauma-informed care and child welfare services, announced today a new partnership with the Commonwealth of Kentucky, Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS), Department for Community Based Services (DCBS), to deliver placement stabilization services across the state.
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Under the new contract, Thompson will deploy two professional teams to provide intensive, trauma-informed supports to youth in care who are experiencing or are at risk of placement instability. These services will include crisis intervention, functional behavior assessments, caregiver support, and 24/7 availability for stabilization efforts. Each youth will receive individualized, community-based services designed to promote permanency, stability, and well-being.
“Far too often, young people in foster care experience multiple placement disruptions that add to their trauma,” said Will Jones, CEO of Thompson. “Through this partnership with the Commonwealth of Kentucky, we are bringing our proven, trauma-informed model to ensure children are not just placed, but are truly supported to heal and thrive in stable, loving environments. At Thompson, we believe every child deserves stability, permanency, and hope for their future.”
Youth Partners—staff with lived experience and professional expertise—will work closely with DCBS, caregivers, and families to strengthen placement preservation efforts. By integrating wraparound principles, trauma-informed care, and evidence-based practices, Thompson aims to reduce placement disruptions and improve long-term outcomes for Kentucky’s most vulnerable youth.
ABOUT THOMPSON
Founded over 140 years ago, Thompson is a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening children, families, and communities through a full continuum of services including foster care, residential programs, family preservation, and behavioral health. With a commitment to Excellence, Innovation, Caring, Commitment, and Integrity, Thompson is nationally recognized for its trauma-informed, outcomes-driven approach that transforms lives. Learn more at www.thompsoncff.org
www.thompsoncff.org
LONDON (AP) — Britain's Conservative Party, which governed the country from 2010 until it suffered its worst-ever electoral defeat two years ago, was plunged into fresh turmoil Thursday after its leader sacked the man widely seen as her greatest rival for apparently plotting to defect from the party.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said in a video and statement on X that she sacked the party's justice spokesperson Robert Jenrick due to “irrefutable evidence that he was plotting in secret to defect" in a way that was “designed to be as damaging as possible” to the party.
Badenoch also ejected Jenrick from the party's ranks in Parliament and suspended his party membership.
“The British public are tired of political psychodrama and so am I,” she said. “They saw too much of it in the last government, they’re seeing too much of it in this government. I will not repeat those mistakes.”
Though Badenoch did not specify which party Jenrick was planning to switch to, Nigel Farage, leader of the hard-right Reform UK party, said he had “of course” had conversations with him.
In the past 12 months, the Conservatives have suffered a string of defections to Reform UK, including some former Cabinet ministers.
Farage said in a press briefing in Edinburgh, the Scottish capital, that coincided with Badenoch's statement that, “hand on heart,” he wasn't about to present Jenrick as the latest Conservative to defect to Reform, an upstart, anti-immigration party.
“I’ll give him a ring this afternoon,” he said. “I might even buy him a pint, you never know.”
The Conservatives are fighting not just the Labour government to their left, but Reform UK to the right. Reform has topped opinion polls for months, trounced the Conservatives in last May’s local elections and has welcomed a stream of defecting Tory members and officials.
Jenrick, who has continued to attract speculation about leadership ambitions despite being beaten in 2024, has appeared more open than Badenoch to the prospect of some sort of deal between the Conservatives and Reform in the run-up to next general election, which has to take place by 2029.
Jenrick has yet to respond to the news of his sacking.
The Conservatives remain the official opposition to Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour.
Badenoch, a small-state, low-tax advocate, has shifted the Conservatives to the right, announcing policies similar to those of U.S. President Donald Trump, including a promise to deport 150,000 unauthorized immigrants a year.
Her poor poll ratings and lackluster performance in Parliament had stirred speculation that she could be ousted long before the next election.
However, she has been making a better impression in Parliament in recent weeks in a way that appears to have cemented her position as leader.
The party is no stranger to turmoil, having gone through six leaders in the space of 10 years, five of them serving as prime minister. Widespread anger at the way the Conservatives were governing Britain led to their defeat at the general election in July 2024, when they lost around two-thirds of their lawmakers, their worst performance since the party was created nearly 200 years ago.
Reform Party leader Nigel Farage addresses protesters outside the Iranian embassy, in London, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (Yui Mok/PA via AP)
Kemi Badenoch with Robert Jenrick before being announced as the new Conservative Party leader following the vote by party members at 8 Northumberland Avenue in central London, Nov. 3, 2024. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)
