In foster care, the IDHW budget proposal focuses on prevention

As the Idaho Department of Health and Human Services tries to address problems in the foster care system, the agency wants to dedicate more resources to prevent children from being placed in foster care in the first place.

In its budget request, to be considered during the 2025 legislative session, the state health agency calls for increasing the child welfare budget by nearly $15 million to $65.2 million, and adding 68 new full-time staff members, for a total of almost 503 staff in the budget. year 2026, which starts in June 2026.

If the Idaho Legislature approves, some of the new funding and staffing requests would go toward funding prevention work, reducing caseworker workloads, increasing support for foster parents and improving the placement of children in child welfare.

More than eight in ten children in the care of the Ministry of Health and Welfare are placed in a care environment, such as foster care or collective care; the remaining children remain at home, with prevention services provided by agencies aimed at helping families ensure children’s safety.

A key goal that Health and Human Services has outlined is to reverse that trend: ensure that the vast majority of children remain at home and receive prevention services, while the remainder of children are placed in placement settings.

That prevention focus means putting “as many resources as possible at the beginning of that journey,” Alex Adams, director of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, told the Idaho Capital Sun and CBS2 in a joint interview.

State Sen. Melissa Wintrow, a Boise Democrat who has worked on child welfare issues for years, welcomed the focus on prevention and calls to expand the workforce.

“This Legislature has said time and time again that we value our children. And I believe that,” she told The Sun and CBS2. “But to value our children, we must fully invest in the resources to support them. And that could be prevention services, which I very much support,” along with reducing workloads and providing resources to children with complex needs, who are often placed in congregate care.

What the budget request of Healthcare and Welfare calls for

The budget request calls for funds and new staff in four key child welfare areas, aimed at improving children’s safety in the home; improving placements; improving support for foster parents; and reducing agency workloads to improve children’s outcomes.

Here’s how these requests break down:

1. Improving Child Safety at Home: $3 million in total funds, including $1.46 million in federal funds and nearly $1.6 million in state general funds. No new jobs are requested.

2. Improving Placement Eligibility and Stability for Children in Foster Care: $1.2 million in total funds, including more than half a million dollars in federal funds and $674,000 in state general funds. Twelve new full-time jobs are being requested.

3. Improving Support for Foster Parents: $3.1 million in total funds, including $1.4 million in federal funds and nearly $1.7 million in state general funds. Fifteen new full-time jobs are being requested.

4. Improve child outcomes by reducing agency worker workloads: $1.3 million in total funds, including $631,500 in federal funds and $690,000 in state general funds. Fourteen new full-time jobs are being requested.

The agency is also seeking to increase foster care and welfare payments next fiscal year to $74.5 million, up from the $62.8 budgeted this year but lower than actual spending this year, which was nearly $77 million. million dollars were estimated.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare, like other government agencies, submitted its budget request on September 1. But official decisions on the budget process are still months away.

In January, Idaho Governor Brad Little is expected to submit his own budget request to the Idaho Legislature.

That’s also when the Idaho Legislature will convene for the 2025 legislative session, which often extends into the first few months of the year. That’s when state lawmakers would create individual budget bills that authorize government agencies to spend money — including state and federal funds.

What is prevention in child welfare?

Each year, the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare receives about 24,000 calls about abuse or neglect through its hotline, Adams told the Sun. Health and Human Services dispatches staff to assess child safety in about 15,800 cases each year, Adams said.

In most cases, children are deemed safe and remain in their homes, Adams said. But in 11% of cases, children are considered unsafe and end up in Health and Human Services custody, he said.

About 85% of children who end up in Department of Health and Human Services custody end up in placement – ​​meaning they are placed in foster care; the care of other family members, the so-called kinship care; group homes, known as congregate care; or another institution, such as a hospital or juvenile corrections.

The remainder of children in the care of Health and Welfare, approximately 15% of cases, are treated as “prevention cases”. That’s where the child remains at home and families receive services focused on safety, such as anger management classes for parents, substance use disorder treatment, connections to wellness programs like food stamps or WIC, or other resources.

In prevention cases, the department regularly sends out staff to ensure children are safe, Adams said.

Now the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare hopes to reverse the 85-15 split of placing children primarily in service placements, rather than keeping them at home with prevention services – to reach 85% of children in prevention services’ care of the agency. instead of placement settings.

“A placement should be the last resort,” such as in cases of physical or sexual abuse, Adams told the Sun.

Adams, the governor’s former budget chief, took over as director of the Idaho Department of Health and Human Services in June, quickly announcing foster care as a top priority.