Senate hears DCFS FY26 request: overtime, summer EBT, foster-parent recruitment and 125 more child-welfare staff among priorities

The Department of Children & Family Services (DCFS) presented its FY26 recommended budget to the Senate Fiscal Committee and discussed major program areas and workload-driven adjustments.

Senate Fiscal Services staff summarized the department’s funding mix, noting that federal funds account for about two-thirds of DCFS’s budget and state general fund roughly 30%. Committee briefing slides highlighted a number of agency-specific adjustments and workload-driven annualizations.

Key items discussed included: a budget-line $8.5 million identified for overtime for frontline child-welfare workers; an $80 million total annualized appropriation (with roughly $2.5 million in state general fund) to support summer EBT for school-aged children; and workload adjustments to reflect monthly board payments and increases for relative and fictive-kin caregivers that would raise monthly caregiver board payments in specific cases.

DCFS leadership and deputies described operational pressures in child welfare and family support, including foster care placements, kinship care and child-support enforcement. DCFS said family-support programs will draw significant federal TANF- and SNAP-related funding and highlighted a range of federal TANF initiatives and pass-through programs that appear in the FY26 recommended budget.

Secretary Matt Locke and DCFS undersecretaries urged further investments in the workforce: the department asked the committee to consider roughly 125 additional child-welfare positions (most front-line workers), 18 paralegals to support legal work and 30 additional vehicles (on top of 45 replacement vehicles included in the categorical requests). DCFS said the paralegal positions would reduce legal and administrative workloads now performed by social‑work staff and lawyers.

Senators questioned vacancy backlogs, position pipelines and the department’s monthly spending patterns. Committee staff noted DCFS historically spends about 88.7% of its budget on average; the department reported about 316 funded-but-not-filled positions in January figures and additional temporary FTEs in FY25.

Committee follow-up requests included: more detail on overtime need calculations; a roster of the 45 replacements and requested 30 new vehicles (makes, models, mileage and replacement rationale); and documentation supporting the summer EBT annualization and the funding sources for monthly caregiver payments.