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Child-welfare spending pressures force staffing and service reductions; officials warn of potential service trade-offs
Summary
Larimer County child-welfare leaders reported multi-million-dollar overspending driven by placement costs, higher acuity and underfunded allocation formulas; the department plans staff reductions and cuts to contracted prevention services.
Thad Paul, division manager for Child, Youth and Family at Larimer County Human Services, told the Board of Social Services on Aug. 20 that child-welfare spending for state fiscal-year 2024–25 ended the year overspent and that the department is planning additional staffing and service reductions to bring spending closer to its allocations.
Why it matters: officials said placement costs, higher family acuity and mismatches between allocation formulas and actual costs are driving repeated overspend across the child-welfare block, core services and workload allocations. Managers warned that further reductions in prevention services and staff could raise the risk of increases in out-of-home placements.
Paul explained that the…
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