Idaho health department seeks $14 million, pushes foster recruitment and prevention to curb rising child-welfare costs

Idaho Department of Health and Welfare leaders on Thursday told a legislative committee they will press a $14 million supplemental request and a targeted budget package that emphasizes foster-family recruitment and prevention services to blunt rising child-welfare costs.

Director Adams, who identified child welfare as the department’s strategic priority, told lawmakers the state is seeing growing costs driven by higher-acuity children and increasing use of congregate-care placements. "We have a $14,000,000 supplemental request this year," Adams said, and framed the department’s strategy around two aims: increasing the number of licensed foster families and keeping more children safely at home through prevention services.

The department laid out the scale of demand it faces: Idaho has about 463,000 children; the department receives roughly 24,000 hotline reports a year and responds to about 15,800 that require assessment. Adams said 89 percent of assessed children are judged safe, leaving roughly 11 percent—about 1,700 cases annually—where safety concerns remain. Of those committed to the department’s custody, he said about 300 are handled as prevention cases and about 1,400 result in placement outside the home.

Why it matters: prevention cases cost far less and generally produce better outcomes, the department said. Adams told the committee a prevention case costs about $1.80 per day (roughly $657 a year), while a typical foster placement is about $16 per day (roughly $5,800 a year). Congregate care, by contrast, averaged $385 per day in 2024 and has reached rates "upwards of $1,400 a day," which Adams said can exceed $140,000 per child per year for the most intensive settings.

Adams and Deputy Director Monte Pro described a two-pronged approach. First, the department is pursuing recruitment and retention to increase the pool of foster families. Adams said the department set a "wildly important goal" (WIG) to double the rate of foster families within 24 months; the ratio reported for January 20 was 0.94 foster families per 100 incoming children, up from 0.74 when he began. The department has undertaken rule changes to streamline licensure, launched an office of faith initiatives to engage faith communities, bought media placements, begun a yard‑sign campaign, and formed partnerships (for example, free parks passes and free fishing licenses for foster families).

Second, the department is investing in prevention services so courts and caseworkers can safely keep more children at home. Deputy Director Pro said the department is aiming to reduce social-worker caseloads toward the national standard of 12–15 cases per worker (he noted regional variation and that higher‑acuity teenagers require more time). In prevention cases the department focuses on decreasing risk factors and increasing protective factors through a mix of clinical services, concrete supports and community referrals.

Adams described how those tactics work together as a “flywheel”: keeping more children in prevention can free foster beds, which can then be used to move children out of congregate care into family placements, generating both better outcomes and budget savings. As an example, Adams said if the department keeps 100 kids out of foster care, freeing 100 foster beds and then shifts 10 children from congregate care into those freed foster beds, the state could save roughly $1.3 million annually.

Other steps and proposals cited by the department include: - Waiving adoption fees and home‑study charges (Adams said the rule to waive fees was affirmed last week). - Targeted pay increases for foster families: a proposed 5 percent general increase, with larger increases (8–10 percent) targeted to older children and sibling groups who are harder to place and 2 percent increases for infants. - A 24‑hour ‘‘warm line’’ for foster families and added staff to speed licensing and reduce caseloads. - Investment in kin‑search technology to identify relatives earlier for kinship placements. - Continued use of temporary deregulatory rule changes and reciprocity for families that previously fostered in other states to speed licensing.

The department also reported operational improvements: the number of children in congregate care declined from about 268 when Adams started to about 90 in the most recent slides; out‑of‑state placements declined to 49; and the last use of Airbnb placements was ended in November. "I've got 0 Airbnbs and 0 kids," Adams told the committee, saying the department had shut the last one down in November.

Lawmakers pressed for detail during the presentation. Senator Wintrow asked how the state is keeping children in Idaho; Deputy Director Pro said most children can be served in‑state and the department is working with in‑state providers and supporting them to add services so fewer children require out‑of‑state care. Senators also asked about caseloads (regional variation, with higher caseloads concentrated in the Treasure Valley) and what prevention services look like; the department said prevention work ranges from concrete supports (food, rent assistance) to therapy and substance‑use treatment for parents or youth.

Adams said the department’s supplemental requests and budget proposal will be presented to the Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee (JFAC) in the coming weeks. He told legislators he had held other divisions to maintenance budgets so the department could prioritize child‑welfare investments: "All other divisions were generally held to a maintenance budget," Adams said, "I didn't ask to increase any services… I asked to maintain the status quo… so that we could prioritize a request here."

What the department and legislators cited as constraints: Idaho cannot control the number of children the courts commit to the department’s custody; removal decisions rest with law enforcement and the courts, and federal funding streams (Title IV‑E) and other grants influence what the department can do. Adams said mandatory federal funding streams like Title IV‑E appear safe from proposed federal restrictions, while some discretionary funds (for example, IRA‑tied weatherization dollars) could carry more risk.

The department asked legislators for time and some up‑front funding tied to its prevention and recruitment strategy, saying the model had produced savings in other state systems the department used as a template. The presentation closed with Adams thanking the committee and noting he looked forward to the upcoming budget conversations before JFAC.

Adams and Pro provided data, described recent rule changes and listed proposals to recruit and retain foster families, expand prevention and reduce congregate placements. Several senators said they supported the priorities and asked follow‑up questions about implementation and timelines.