Advocates worry reduced foster care payments will hurt Iowa foster families

Iowa Politics Insider Advocates worry reduced foster care payments will hurt Iowa foster families
By Jennifer Jacobs • jejacobs@dmreg.com • December 9, 2009

Department of Human Services, foster care, Renee Schulte, Roger Munns

Iowa foster parents will get about $35 less each month for expenses for the abused or neglected children they care for on behalf of the state.

That could hurt the foster care system, said several Iowans who oversee the Iowa Department of Human Services. The 10 percent across-the-board budget cut Gov. Chet Culver ordered for this budget year will decrease state spending on foster care subsidies by about $315,000.

“I’m very concerned about these cuts because foster parents are telling me they’re not sure they can keep the foster kids in light of this,” said state Rep. Renee Schulte, R-Cedar Cedar Rapids. “They’re not sure if they’re going to be able to make it because they’re hitting unemployment and hard times in their own families.”

The Council on Human Services, the board with oversight over DHS’s budget and rules, today approved reducing the foster family care subsidy by $1.16 a day to meet the across-the-board cut. They also cut the foster care clothing allowance and limited payments for legal expenses.

Schulte is a non-voting member of the council, but several voting members echoed her concerns. They voted today to send a letter to state lawmakers to let them know foster care subsidies are a priority.

Families who care for foster children without special needs up to age 5 are paid $16.36 a day. That will be lowered to $15.54 with a 5 percent cut. The amount increases based on age.

The lower subsidy is for Jan. 1 until June 30 of next year. Iowa has about 2,300 foster children.

Culver ordered the 10 percent across-the-board cut because tax collections and other state revenues have dropped sharply because of the recession.

Schulte said when she was out door-knocking, one foster parent gave her an earful about the lower foster care subsidies. Families already don’t get enough subsidy money each month to pay for needs such as clothing, especially for teenage foster youth, she said.

DHS Director Charlie Krogmeier told the council members today that “the budget is what it is.”

“I’m sensitive to the fact that foster families probably don’t get paid enough,” he said.

Culver ordered $565 million in cuts in general fund spending, including $144 million in cuts for DHS.

The across-the-board cut for DHS children and family services amounts to $2.3 million less in spending, which includes federal money. Foster care subsidies fall under the children and family services category, as do adoption subsidies.

Adoption subsidies will be cut by $874,000.

In Iowa, about 8,000 children are being subsidized in adoptive homes. About 95 percent of adoptions from the child welfare system are subsidized. Federal law precludes a “means test” that would be used to deny a subsidy. The payments last until age 18.

Krogmeier said the subsidy rates might go back up in July when the new budget year begins. Council chairman James A. Miller asked him why he thinks that.

“You might say we’re hopeful, or possibly naive,” Krogmeier answered.

DHS spokesman Roger Munns said after the meeting that the decision to reduce foster rates was not an easy one, and that other programs were cut more severely in order to cushion the blow on foster payments.

“We do ask a lot from our foster parents and we would like to pay them more,” Munns said. “We know that people don’t become foster parents for the money, but they do need help meeting the costs that an extra child or two will require.”

A couple of the council members today worried that the lower payments will hamper recruitment of foster parents.

Munns said the payment rate, while important, is a secondary barrier in recruiting. The main issue is finding people willing to open their homes to older kids, often with behavioral issues, or to children who come in pairs or threes.

http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2009/12/09/adocates-worry-reduced-foster-care-payments-will-hurt-iowa-foster-families/