Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Child Welfare And Prevention topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Panel backs targeted increases for children's services, supervised visitation and mentoring programs
Summary
The committee recommended targeted funding increases: a monthly rate boost for Children's Integrated Services, one-time supervised-visitation support from prior tobacco funds, modest increases for Mentor Vermont and Building Bright Futures, and a base increase for 2-1-1 operations.
Theresa Wood, chair of the House Human Services Committee, briefed members on March 10 about a package of targeted investments the committee recommends for children's programs and preventive services.
Children's Integrated Services: Wood said Children's Integrated Services is a required component of EPSDT (Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment) for Medicaid-eligible children. An agency cost study indicated the per-month cost is $738 while the current reimbursement is $650; the committee recommended raising the rate to $675 per month, at an estimated cost of $450,000. "We are currently paying $650. We are recommending that that move to $6.75," Wood said.
Building Bright Futures: The committee recommended increasing base general-fund support for Building Bright Futures, the public-private partnership that provides evaluation and data for child-care policy. The committee noted the increase would leave the state still covering under half of the organization—s operating costs; Wood said the group serves as the evaluator for Act 76 implementation.
Supervised visitation: The committee recommended a one-year, $30,640 appropriation to support supervised visitation coordination currently provided by the Center for Crime Victim Services. Wood said the funds would come from a prior tobacco-settlement appropriation that sits in the judiciary budget and that the language would direct the judiciary and DCF to seek a statewide solution. "There is no money allocated for this coordinating effort right now; the Center for Crime Victim Services has been doing it out of their funding and they said we can't do that anymore," Wood said.
Mentoring and prevention funds: Mentor Vermont requested $1 million but the committee recommended a $200,000 increase. Wood said the committee expects those funds to come from the Department of Health—s prevention account (cannabis excise-tax revenue), which the committee said contains roughly $11 million for prevention activities. "We are requesting that the Department of Health be directed to use at least $200,000 for Mentor Vermont," Wood said.
2-1-1 operations: The committee recommended increasing base funding for the statewide 2-1-1 information-and-referral service to maintain 24/7 eligibility screening for shelter and crisis needs. The committee said the one-time funding that sustained 2-1-1—s round-the-clock operations should be added to base funding (committee cited $332,000 as the intended base increase after correcting a typographical error).
Other items and context: Wood also flagged concerns that higher-cost institutional services (nursing homes, PNMI group homes and state employee wages) received budgeted increases while many lower-cost home- and community-based prevention services were left with no inflationary adjustments in the governor—s recommendation. The committee intends to use identified funding sources where possible and to include language directing agencies to coordinate on use and grant requirements.
Next steps: The committee will forward the prioritized adjustments to Appropriations and expects grant agreements and reporting language to be included where the committee recommended transfers or directed use of prevention funds.
