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New ombudsman outlines foster‑care oversight role, asks for higher personnel pay to recruit staff
Summary
The newly created Office of Health and Social Services Ombudsman described its mission to investigate complaints in Idaho's foster‑care system and requested higher personnel funding to reach DHR-recommended pay levels to recruit qualified staff.
The Office of the Health and Social Services Ombudsman appeared before the Joint Finance & Appropriations Committee on Jan. 15 to introduce the office and its new ombudsman, Trevor Sparrow, and to note a governor‑supported request to raise personnel funding so the office can recruit at competitive pay levels.
Legislative Services analyst Alex Williamson told the committee the office was created last session by Senate Bill 1380 and carries a $470,000 ongoing general‑fund appropriation in fiscal 2025, with $395,000 earmarked for personnel costs. Williamson said the Department of Human Resources recommended increasing personnel dollars so the office could hire at above 80% of policy to recruit and retain qualified candidates; the request is ongoing and supported in the governor’s recommendation.
"My name is Trevor Sparrow. I'm...the ombudsman for this new agency," Sparrow told the committee. He described the office’s core functions as receiving complaints from parents, foster parents and others with a vested interest in children in state custody, investigating whether agencies handled cases appropriately and ethically, and making recommendations to agencies and the legislature. Sparrow said the office can also initiate broader reviews of agencies and produce legislative recommendations.
Sparrow told senators and representatives the office will primarily focus on the foster‑care system but, as written in law, may investigate complaints related to other residential placements for children, including juvenile corrections. He said he has discussed coordination with the Department of Health & Welfare staff and sees potential to use volunteer citizen review panels for research and policy review.
Sparrow also said the office has adopted standards from the United States Ombudsman Association and intends to assemble a multidisciplinary team — potentially including legal, nursing and social‑work expertise — to carry out investigations and recommendations.
No formal committee action on the personnel request was recorded during the hearing; the matter will be considered along with other maintenance and enhancement requests in the committee’s budget deliberations.
Speakers recommended that the committee and the new office keep lines of communication open with existing review panels and agency staff to avoid duplication and to leverage volunteers’ experience.
