The Kentucky Court of Appeals has denied an emergency request to stop child welfare officials from removing a one-year-old girl from the foster parents who have raised her since infancy, in a case involving her mother, who pleaded guilty to a reduced charge stemming from injuries to the child as a newborn and is now in federal immigration detention awaiting deportation.
The ruling denied an emergency request concerning the fate of the child, whose mother, Marleny Reynoso, is a 20-year-old Guatemalan native. According to the Louisville Courier Journal, Reynoso gave birth at home on August 2, 2025, and brought her newborn daughter to Norton Women's & Children's Hospital in Louisville. Medical staff found severe physical lacerations, and pediatric specialists determined they were inconsistent with Reynoso's explanation that she had cut the umbilical cord herself, according to Shay Informed. The findings led to criminal charges and a state child-welfare case that has lasted more than a year.
Reynoso was initially charged with attempted murder and first-degree criminal abuse, but the case was ultimately resolved through a plea deal. In July, she pleaded guilty to an amended charge of wanton endangerment, receiving credit for time already served before being immediately transferred from local custody to an ICE detention facility in Louisiana to await deportation, per the same Shay Informed report.
Family Court Sided With Reunification
The child welfare case took a pivotal turn when Jefferson County Family Court Judge Angela Johnson ordered the one-year-old returned to Reynoso's custody, determining that the state had not given the mother an adequate opportunity to work toward family reunification while she was in custody, the Courier Journal reported. The Cabinet for Health and Family Services supported that order, alongside the county attorney and the child's guardian ad litem, according to the same outlet's coverage.
The foster parents, who had cared for the girl continuously since her release from the hospital, challenged the order. A Kentucky Court of Appeals judge initially issued an emergency stay temporarily halting the child's transfer, setting up the later decision denying the foster parents' petition, according to Kentucky Lantern.
A Lawmaker Raises Oversight Concerns
Kentucky State Representative Tina Bojanowski, a Louisville Democrat, has publicly criticized the arrangement, saying that sending a one-year-old U.S. citizen to an ICE facility for immediate deportation lacks standard state child welfare oversight, Shay Informed reported. Bojanowski noted that typical state reunification plans include monitoring after a child is placed back with a parent — oversight that disappears entirely once a child leaves the country.
The case sits at the intersection of family law and federal immigration policy. Under ICE Parental Rights Directive 11064.3, federal immigration authorities are required to accommodate detained parents seeking to participate in child custody proceedings and to coordinate care or deportation plans for their minor children, according to FindLaw. The girl, born in the United States, is a U.S. citizen under the 14th Amendment's Citizenship Clause regardless of her mother's immigration status. FindLaw says an undocumented parent facing removal may decide whether to take a citizen child abroad or designate a domestic guardian.
Kentucky's Reunification Framework
Judge Johnson's ruling reflects the broader question of whether a child should be reunified with a biological parent or remain in foster placement. Kentucky's child-welfare framework includes goals related to child-welfare outcomes and improvement.
What state data shows
Kentucky's 2025 Child and Family Services Review discusses child-welfare outcomes and improvement goals, according to Kentucky's 2025 Child and Family Services Review.
The same review discusses workforce and systemic review processes. Separately, Kentucky's Annual Progress and Services Report discusses permanency outcomes, according to the state's Annual Progress and Services Report.
The case also unfolds amid increased federal immigration enforcement across Kentucky.
As of November 2025, the state had approximately 8,700 children in its care but fewer than 4,600 approved licensed foster homes statewide, a shortage previously detailed by Hoodline in coverage of the state's foster housing gap. The couple in this case cared for the girl from her earliest days out of the hospital until Friday's ruling cleared the way for her to leave their home.
