Nevada lawmakers review DCFS plan to run extended foster-care program, consider opioid settlement funding

The joint subcommittee on human services heard presentations Monday from the Division of Child and Family Services on proposed budgets to implement Nevada’s extended young adult support services program — commonly described as extended foster care — and on related uses of opioid settlement funds.

Marla McDade Williams, administrator for the Division of Child and Family Services (DCFS), told the committee the division has completed policy, regulations and a state plan amendment and said the program is ready for full implementation on July 1, 2025, but that budget authority is “contingent upon passage and approval of the enabling legislation.”

The program is intended to let young people remain in foster care up to age 21. Kyra Morgan, DCFS medical epidemiologist, described the evidence linking parental substance misuse to child maltreatment and removal and told the committee that in Nevada in 2023 “60.3 percent of Nevada children entering foster care had a parental substance use related removal reason” and that DCFS has observed an average 22 percent year-over-year increase in that removal reason since 2019.

DCFS staff summarized the governor’s recommended decision units for three child-welfare block-grant accounts. Kelsey McCann Navarro, DCFS administrative services officer, said the requests include staffing and start-up costs to support the extended young adult program and other items: for Washoe County (budget account 3141) the request included 4 positions and start‑up costs in fiscal 2026 and 5 positions in fiscal 2027; for Clark County (budget account 3142) the request included 14 positions in fiscal 2026 and 16 in fiscal 2027; and the rural region (budget account 3229) requested the program plus additional staff including 7 transportation technicians and 5 caseworker management specialists and relocation costs for the Child Welfare Friendly office.

Counties pushed back on how the governor’s recommendation split limited dollars. Ryan Gustafson, director of the Washoe County Human Services Agency, and Joanna Jacob, representing Clark County, said county estimates were prepared and submitted in 2024. Gustafson said Washoe expects to serve roughly 60 youth in fiscal 2026 and about 80 in fiscal 2027 under the program; Clark County officials said their existing local voluntary programs historically have had roughly 300 youth engaged at any given time and that their estimates informed the county ask to the state.

“There's no intent to cut. That is not what you have before you,” Williams said, explaining budget choices as a product of the executive branch cap and budgeting rules, not a judgment of county proposals. Tiffany Greenmaier of the Governor’s Finance Office explained those “cap” rules are set by the governor’s finance office using the second year of the current biennium as a baseline and excluding one‑time money.

Several members of the committee and county representatives raised concerns that treating implementation funding as block‑grant base money — or using one‑time opioid settlement dollars — could create sustainability problems if settlement receipts decline. DCFS said it had considered funding scenarios and that some decision units in the request are explicitly contingent on legislative authorization.

Why it matters: committee members repeatedly noted the program responds to a statutory mandate delayed previously by Senate Bill 380 and that counties and the state have different responsibilities under the block‑grant system. The committee did not take votes on the budget items; funding decisions remain with the legislature.

Quotes attributed in this story come from the committee hearing transcript. The first DCFS presentation on the budgets began with Marla McDade Williams; Kyra Morgan provided data and research citations; Kelsey McCann Navarro outlined the governor’s recommended decision units. Ending: the committee asked DCFS and the counties to continue technical follow‑up on caseload projections, funding sources and reporting requirements as the legislature considers the budget and any enabling legislation.