Idaho health department seeks $14 million to boost prevention, recruit foster families

Director Adams, director of the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare, told an interim legislative committee that the department will request a $14 million supplemental this year and will prioritize child-welfare funding in its upcoming budget to expand prevention services and recruit and retain foster families.

"It's the right thing to do," Adams said, describing child welfare as the department's strategic priority and citing Office of Performance Evaluations work that identified improvement opportunities. He told the committee the department aims to reduce reliance on congregate care — group homes and other institutional settings — by investing in prevention and foster-family capacity.

Adams said Idaho has about 463,000 children and receives roughly 24,000 calls to its hotline each year; the department responds to about 15,800 reports that require assessment. He said 89% of assessed children are found to be safe and about 11% — roughly 1,700 instances a year — are found unsafe. "For those that are committed to the custody of the department, today 300 cases a year are put in prevention cases, 1,400 a year are in placements," he said.

Adams and Deputy Director Monte Pro described large cost differences between settings. He said a prevention case costs roughly $1.80 per day (about $657 per year) while a…