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DCYF submits targeted 2026 budget and legislative requests as state faces tighter revenues
Summary
The Department of Children, Youth, and Families submitted a smaller, more targeted set of decision packages and six agency-request bills to the governor’s office for the 2026 legislative session, prioritizing core child-welfare and juvenile rehabilitation needs amid a constrained state budget and uncertain federal funding.
The Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) presented a condensed set of decision packages and six pieces of agency-request legislation to the governor’s office as it prepares for the 2026 legislative session.
Lisonbee Kretsinger, DCYF chief public affairs officer, said the agency filed its proposals for the governor’s budget build, which typically is released in December, with the legislature due to convene in January for a 60-day supplemental session.
Kretsinger said the short session and declining state revenue prompted the agency to limit new asks. “This is a supplemental year… It’s not the year for new idea and lots of spend,” she said, noting DCYF submitted more agency-request legislation than in prior years but with smaller decision-package dollar amounts.
The department’s submissions include requests for child welfare staffing and workload adjustments, prevention services to address rising critical incidents, funding tied to compliance with federal civil-rights findings, multiple juvenile rehabilitation reforms and capital and operating requests, early learning funding adjustments tied to caseload growth, and technical fixes to licensing and reporting statutes. Several requests explicitly seek phased or partial implementation due to current fiscal constraints.
DCYF said the governor’s office and the Office of Financial Management will review agency submissions as they develop the governor’s proposed budget; any final funding or statutory changes will require legislative action in the session beginning in January.
The department posted one-pager summaries of all decision packages and agency-request bills on DCYF’s government affairs web page, Kretsinger said.
