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Have you spoken to your local humane society? If they aren't able to help, they might have advice.

In the meantime, if the cat is chewing its legs, you need to get a cone on it ASAP. If it causes enough injury to merit an amputation, they will probably recommend euthanasia instead.

They probably need wound care and antibiotics if they have open wounds, but that will be a challenge if they are wild.

Unfortunately if the mother is not caring for it, that usually means the mother has decided the cost of caring for it is too great at this point.

See if the emergency vet accepts CareCredit. You can apply for it and use it same day. They should have a thing at the front desk that will tell you how to apply.

If you apply and are denied, see if they will work with you on it and explain that you were denied.

I just want to make sure that at least one person tells you this. You have no obligation to care for these animals. Wild animals get injured and die all the time. You can't save them all.

It already sounds like these animals are putting a major stress on your life in both time and money. People can get really weird about wild house pet animals, and will assume you care about them as much as they do. Which I am sure you do.

The TNR advise is solid if you want to get involved, but please for the love of God do not go into debt 'saving' this kitten.

You sound like a great person. Don't do anything you are not comfortable with, but sometimes the best thing to do is let nature take it's course.

Usually, the best way to control a feral colony is Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR).

https://www.alleycat.org/our-work/trap-neuter-return/

https://www.alleycat.org/resources/how-to-help-community-cats-a-step-by-step-guide-to-trap-neuter-return/

If you were to simply remove the cats, it just makes space for others to move in. Leaving a few in place but unable to reproduce helps to keep the population low.

Look in your area for local TNR groups or humane societies willing to help you. Don’t expect them to do all of the work, but sometimes they will be able to loan you humane traps or point you to low-cost spay/neuter services. They always get more requests than they have capacity to handle, so the more work you can take on yourself, the more likely they are to help you. Also, just to set expectations, it’s probably not something that can be solved in a weekend or even a month. Trapping often takes a lot of patience.

Unfortunately for the injured kitten, often the must humane thing to do is euthanasia. You can contact local vets and ask if they would look at the kitten for low cost or provide low cost euthanasia so that at least it doesn’t suffer. I know it sucks, but sometimes the best you can do is reduce suffering.

Where in KY are you? If you're near Louisville, look up Alley Cat Advocates or The Shamrock Pet Foundation, they may be able to help.

There's not much you can do for it. Its difficult to make a pet out of a wild kitten unless you get to it when it's a few days old. So you will be spending all your money and a few weeks of your time caring for a wild animal that hates you.