Adopted son of former Gov. Matt Bevin speaks out as arrest order issued in child support case

Jonah Bevin shares allegations of abuse, neglect as judge orders former Kentucky governor’s arrest for failing to provide court records

KENTUCKY, Ky. (WKYT) - For the first time, Jonah Bevin is sharing his side of the story in an ongoing child support case against his adoptive father, former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin, as a judge issued an arrest order for the former governor.

The judge issued the arrest order after Matt Bevin failed to provide the court all requested records in the case. The order gives all peace officers in the commonwealth the authority to arrest Bevin. After his arrest, he will have to serve 60 days in jail and pay a $500 fine.

In an interview with WKYT, Jonah spoke about what it was like living with the Bevins and shared his thoughts on the legal fight currently going on.

Jonah’s story

“Everything that happened after I was sent away changed the course of my life,” Jonah said.

Jonah, adopted by the former governor and his wife Glenna from Ethiopia at age five, said his relationship with his adoptive father is nonexistent. He said he was sent to facilities across multiple states and eventually to the Atlantis Leadership Academy in Jamaica.

Jonah claims he was physically abused at the Jamaican boarding school and both emotionally and mentally abused under Matt and his wife’s guardianship.

Jonah’s attorneys said the money the Bevins paid did not care for him but paid for his abuse.

“What’s undisputed is that the facility in Jamaica was shut down by the Jamaican child welfare authorities and Jonah was left there, along with two other boys whose parents refused to come pick them up,” said Melina Hettiaratchi, Jonah’s attorney.

Child support dispute

Now 19, Jonah is suing for retroactive child support, money he said should cover the time he spent in those “troubled teen” facilities as a minor. Jonah is looking for financial support and help completing his education. The Bevins argue he was cared for by those facilities and is not owed support.

“The thing is, you should be looking at why Jonah was acting the way he did back then. It’s because I had no role models. I didn’t have good people to teach me what was right and that falls on him at the end of the day, because he was the person that was supposed to do those types of things,” Jonah said.

Jonah said he does not claim to have been a perfect child, but he wants the focus on his allegations of neglect and abuse, not on his past.

In a statement, Matt Bevin said Jonah’s behavioral health, substance abuse and criminal history will become public through this trial. Jonah said that is his adoptive father trying to control the narrative and his life.

“If you adopt somebody from a whole nother cultural, a whole nother environment and then expect them to just act like you, there’s going to be differences, there’s cultural difference,” Jonah said.

Reconnecting with biological family

Jonah also said he grew up believing his biological family in Ethiopia died. He later found them and reconnected. He said his last conversation with Matt Bevin came when he shared that news, and Matt Bevin told him if he pursued legal action, he would never help him connect with them.

“I have my own family. I’m not concerned about being in another family that I don’t need to be a part of. I already have one they took me from one that I had,” Jonah said.

Jonah said he has no interest in a relationship with the Bevins going forward.

“I’m not going to sit there and let him choose a life for me. I have my own life. God has given me a life and I want to live that life,” Jonah said.

What’s next

The case involves the Bevins’ adopted son, who was adopted in 2012 from Ethiopia. Matt Bevin and his wife sent Jonah to two different facilities, one in Jamaica.

A motion hour in the case is scheduled for 9 a.m. on June 15 in Jefferson Family Court.

We love our son, Jonah, and want him to become the man God created him to be. That has never waivered from the moment he was adopted by our family when he was five years old.

This case currently in Judge Johnson’s court, is not a case about child support. Both Glenna and I have contributed fully to the financial well being and care of every one of our nine children and continue to do so for the sole child still in our home. There is no claim or demand by either of us for child support from the other.

Supposedly, this case was to explore whether or not an adult (in this case, our son, Jonah) could sue their parents for divorce and/or for retroactive child support which that adult believes they are entitled to. Understandably, this demand is not allowed by law in Kentucky or any state in America. Legal mayhem would ensue if it were allowed. The judge knows this. The appellate courts and the Supreme Court of Kentucky know this.

Now, however, it appears to many that Judge Johnson is using her elected platform for partisan purposes that have no relation to the initial parameters of this case. The shift from examining potential need for retroactive child support, to what it has turned into today, which now seems singularly focused on finding some way to put me in jail, does nothing to resolve this case. It makes a mockery of Kentucky and our court system, and comes at a great cost to those families whose real cases keep getting pushed aside for a case in which no legal basis even exists.

Many have wondered why, as Jonah’s parents, we have never publicly responded to the false allegations that have been made against us. The reasons, despite our effort to have them handled privately, have now been forced by this judge and Jonah’s attorneys to be publicly discussed in detail in her courtroom next month. We have tried repeatedly to have this case discussed in private for Jonah’s sake. The judge has refused. So now, the truth of his behavioral health, substance abuse and criminal history will be played out for the self-serving purposes of those exploiting his vulnerabilities. This will not be good for Jonah, who we have always tried to protect.

When this case is finally resolved, his family will still be right here, where we have been from the start; always available and willing to help Jonah do what is legally and personally right in his life. We hope and pray that day comes soon.

Former Governor Matt Bevin