New state ombudsman describes role overseeing foster-care complaints, asks for staff pay increases to recruit hires

Trevor Sparrow, the state’s newly appointed ombudsman for Health and Social Services, told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Jan. 15 that his office will receive complaints and investigate allegations involving Idaho’s foster care system and other residential placements for children.

Sparrow, who told the committee he was appointed Nov. 27 and previously served eight years as director of the Idaho Youth Challenge Academy, said the office can accept complaints from parents, foster parents, providers and other involved parties and may conduct investigations, make recommendations to state agencies and perform broader reviews that could lead to legislative recommendations. “We can investigate complaints there as well,” he said, describing jurisdiction that includes foster care and, as written in the statute, residential facilities housing children, including juvenile corrections.

Alex Williamson, a budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, told the committee the Office of Health and Social Services Ombudsman was created by the 2024 Legislature (Senate Bill 1380) and is housed within the Department of Self-Governing Agencies. The office was appropriated three FTE and roughly $470,000 for FY2025, the analyst said; about $450,000 of that appropriation is ongoing and approximately $20,000 was one-time capital outlay to set up the new office.

Williamson said the governor recommends additional ongoing personnel funding so the office can recruit and retain qualified staff by offering salaries at above 80% of policy (a human resources guideline used in hiring). The committee asked Sparrow about the office’s scope and operations: he said the office has adopted standards from the United States Ombudsman Association and plans to assemble a multidisciplinary team that could include legal, nursing and social-work expertise.

Committee members asked about the status of children who had been placed in out-of-state or congregate care settings. Sparrow said, based on meetings with Department of Health and Welfare officials, that the state has moved children out of congregate care and that short-term residential placements referenced by members had ended.

Sparrow also discussed potential collaboration with citizen review panels and volunteers to collect aggregated information and help form policy recommendations, noting a link between high rates of incarcerated women and children entering foster care. “I think the opportunity is great with those citizen review panels,” he said, adding the panels could help analyze issues and craft legislative suggestions.

No formal vote was taken. The governor’s recommended personnel funding increase is an ongoing request subject to the committee’s budget deliberations.