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 beds and produce longer-term budget savings.

Adams described a formal goal (the department's WIG, wildly important goal): "We want 85 percent of our cases in prevention," meaning most children the department serves would remain in their homes with services rather than be placed out of the home. He said the department is pursuing a two-pronged approach to double the rate of foster families within 24 months: recruit more high-quality foster families and reduce the number of children entering care through prevention work.

Deputy Director Monte Pro told the committee the department seeks to lower social-worker caseloads to the national standard of about 12 to 15 cases per worker and that current caseloads vary markedly by region (examples given: single-digit ratios in some regions versus near 19 in busier regions). "Our range is north of that at the moment and we are really trying to get those down to the national range of 12 to 15," Pro said.

Officials described policy and operational steps already taken: permanent rule changes to streamline licensure, reciprocity for out-of-state experienced foster parents, a temporary rule package adopted last June that accelerated recruitment, a foster-family Bill of Rights and a foster-family newsletter and forum to improve retention and communication. Adams said the department has waived adoption fees and clarified a rule to provide "maximum transparency" to vested case parties.

The presentation credited the Legislature and the Office of Performance Evaluations (OPE) for oversight that identified improvement opportunities. Adams cited Senate Bill 1379 (described in the session as a measure that added requirements before using congregate care) and said the law appears correlated with a drop in congregate-care placements. Adams also said the department closed its last short-term Airbnb placement in November and that, as of the presentation, there were "0 Airbnbs and 0 kids" in such settings.

On recruitment and retention, the department proposed targeted increases in foster-family payments: a proposed 5 percent general increase with higher supplements (8–10 percent) for older children and sibling groups and smaller increases for infants (about 2 percent). Adams also described nonpay recruitment incentives and partnerships (free state park passes, fishing licenses, yard-sign campaigns and a faith-based outreach strategy tied to community partners and movie outreach).

Committee members asked about the mix of prevention services. Deputy Director Pro and Adams outlined interventions ranging from concrete supports (food, help with rent, one-time purchases such as carbon monoxide detectors that the department will pay for), to clinical interventions (substance-use treatment and family therapy) and brokered community supports. They said preventive cases typically resolve within about six months when protective factors rise and risk factors decline.

Adams addressed federal-funding risk from executive actions at the federal level and said mandatory funding streams such as Title IV-E are not at risk; some discretionary funds tied to recent federal programs (described as IRA-related dollars for LIHEAP/weatherization) could be vulnerable. He said the department is using caution on discretionary federal grants, instituting central clearance and exit plans, and will not shift grant-funded programs to the state general fund without prior review.

The department framed the budget ask as an investment to produce a “flywheel” effect: more prevention means fewer new placements, which releases foster beds that can then be used to move some children out of congregate care into family settings, producing both better outcomes and budget relief. Adams said the department expects to show results within about a year and a flattening of costs within roughly two years if targets are met.

Ending: Adams and Deputy Director Pro invited further committee questions and said they would present the detailed budget to JFAC (the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee) in upcoming hearings. Committee members thanked the department for work responding to prior OPE recommendations and for outreach to foster parents and guardians ad litem.