Idaho health leaders seek $14 million to expand prevention, reduce costly congregate care

Director Adams of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare told a legislative committee that the department will seek a $14,000,000 supplemental as part of its child-welfare budget request and described a strategy to prioritize prevention and expand foster-family capacity.

The presentation to the committee emphasized why the department is focusing on child welfare and how investments in prevention and foster-family recruitment could bend a sharply rising budget curve driven by expensive congregate-care placements, higher child acuity and a national shortage of foster beds.

Adams said Idaho receives about 24,000 hotline calls each year alleging abuse or neglect; the department responds to roughly 15,800; about 1,700 cases annually are deemed unsafe; roughly 300 cases are prevention-only and about 1,400 are placed out of the home. "We have a $14,000,000 supplemental request this year," Adams said. He gave figures for average costs: about $16 per day (about $5,800 per year) for foster or kinship care, about $385 per day on average for congregate care in 2024 data, and instances where some congregate placements now cost as much as $1,400 per day.

Nut graf: The department argues that prevention cases—keeping children safely at home with services—deliver better outcomes at far lower cost, and that targeted upfront investments can reduce reliance on congregate care, free up foster…