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Providers warn foster‑care liability insurance crisis could shutter community foster homes
Summary
Children's League and multiple community foster‑care providers told the Joint Committee on the Judiciary that insurers are exiting the market or imposing steep price increases, threatening closure of foster homes that serve medically complex children and increasing costs for the state.
Rachel Gualtney, executive director of the Children's League of Massachusetts, and executives of community foster‑care providers testified Tuesday about a growing foster‑care liability insurance crisis that they said threatens placement capacity for children in state care.
Gualtney told the committee that several national insurers have either terminated coverage for foster‑care providers or proposed dramatic premium increases, a trend she said has led to closures of foster beds in other states and now threatens Massachusetts providers. "Without liability insurance, providers will no longer be able to operate comprehensive foster care homes for DCF," Gualtney said, referring to the Department of Children and Families.
Leaders from community providers described immediate operational impacts. Beth Barto, president and CEO of LUK (a central Massachusetts nonprofit), said LUK operates about 60 foster homes and serves roughly 70 to 100 children on any given day. She told the committee that during a recent renewal LUK's insurer said it would not commit to continued coverage for calendar year 2026 and that the agency paid more than $200,000 upfront this year to secure supplemental coverage. "Overall, our insurance costs from calendar year '25 to calendar year '26 went up" substantially, Barto said.
Robert Costa (Justice Resource Institute) described similar cost pressures and said his program had faced a roughly 200 percent premium increase while receiving smaller coverage limits. He said insurance carriers attributed the market shift to a few large claims nationally. "These increased costs ... put us at a real crossroads of staying open or having to decide to close," Costa said.
Yoyo Yaa, executive director of Bridges, gave a service‑level example of a child placed in foster care and the positive outcomes community homes can support, urging the Legislature to act to prevent loss of beds and program closures.
Witnesses requested the Legislature create a special commission or study group to identify sustainable solutions, and several said they would submit written testimony with additional detail. No committee vote was recorded in the transcript.
