Bill would equalize Northstar kinship payments so children under 6 receive full benefits

Representative Hicks moved House File 12-76, which would change how Northstar Care for Children payments are calculated for children who reach permanency with relatives: the bill would eliminate the preschool-entry alternate rate that currently provides a lower payment for children who achieve permanency before age six.

Supporters — including kinship caregivers, tribal advocates and social workers — told the committee eliminating the reduced preschool rate would help relatives say “yes” to permanency and reduce delays that keep children in foster care until they turn six. Sadie Hart of the Enda Young Center described a case where an uncle providing foster care feared he could not financially care for two siblings if the younger child received the reduced rate; as a result, the county kept the child in foster care until the child turned six so the family would receive the full benefit.

Social workers and program representatives said the payment difference can push relatives to delay finalization. “The current system doesn’t make any sense,” testified Britney Lam, a social worker and Policy & Advocacy representative, who added that younger children often require costly childcare and specialized supports despite being under six years old.

Data cited in committee: Representative Hicks said the daily foster rate for ages birth–5 is about $25 per day and the preschool-entry alternative is about $12 per day (rates are set by MAPC assessments and vary by individual child needs). Testimony referenced a 2023 Upjohn Institute study showing full Northstar payments raised average academic achievement by about 31% and increased the chance of moving from foster care to adoption or kin guardianship by 29 percent, with an average reduction in time to permanency of roughly five months.

Fiscal and federal funding: Committee fiscal staff (identified in the record as Mr. Burke) said the program base for the next biennium is “about $2.20-something million” as recorded in committee discussion; a pending fiscal note on the bill was not yet complete. Committee discussion also noted federal resources that can support permanency work; staff later referenced Title IV‑E funding, a federal guardianship assistance grant (approximately $36 million noted in committee discussion as a federal grant line item) and kinship navigator grant funds (about $1.5 million annually) as partial federal resources relevant to related work. Department of Children, Youth and Families government-relations director Jennifer Summerfeld said Northstar’s preschool-entry alternate rate dates to an earlier fiscal decision made to stretch limited state funds when Northstar was created.

Action: Representative Hicks renewed her motion to lay House File 12-76 over for possible inclusion in an omnibus bill. The committee laid the bill over for possible inclusion; a fiscal note and detailed budget impact remain pending.

Clarifying details: testimony and committee discussion noted that counties sometimes delay finalization until a child turns six so caregivers receive the higher post-permanency payment; the bill’s fiscal impact is not yet calculated; cited daily rate approximations were $25/day for birth–5 full foster rate and about $12/day for the preschool-entry alternate rate, and program base figures cited in committee discussion were approximately in the hundreds of millions for the program overall (committee references used phrasing such as “$220,000,000” and “$2.20-something million” depending on context; fiscal staff committed to follow up with precise figures).

Next steps: The bill was laid over for possible inclusion. Committee members asked the department and fiscal staff for detailed cost estimates, confirmation of federal match availability and the interaction of Northstar with other funding streams and Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) cases.