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Linn County preliminarily approves FY2027 state welfare budget as HHS details kinship, navigation and treatment-court work
Summary
The Linn County Board of Supervisors gave preliminary approval to the FY2027 state welfare budget after HHS highlighted kinship foster care, kinship navigation and family treatment court outcomes; staff said KPIs will be added to the budget book.
The Linn County Board of Supervisors preliminarily approved the FY2027 state welfare budget on Jan. 16, 2026, after a presentation from local Health and Human Services staff.
Kristen Huffman, identified herself as the new service area manager for HHS in Linn County, outlined staffing changes and new programs rolled out in 2025, including kinship foster care (launched April 2025), kinship navigation services (launched June 2025) and a behavioral health system navigation program (launched July 2025). "In April 2025, we launched our kinship foster care program," Huffman said, and she described navigation staff who support medical questions and community resource connections for families.
Huffman provided program statistics and outcomes: about 1,500 children in Linn County were involved in child protection cases in the previous year, roughly 177 of whom entered foster care during that involvement. She said statewide there were 51 children in shelter as of January 2026 and noted the county’s Family Treatment Court — one of 12 sites in Iowa — served 22 participants in 2025. Huffman shared a client success story of a parent who completed treatment, regained employment and custody of her youngest child and whose case later closed.
Budget director Sarah Barrows summarized the requested appropriations of $291,957 and projected revenues of $96,345 and said the budget is under the board’s guidelines largely because the office moved its phone system to the state team, producing savings. Barrows also said the state reimbursement rate for the program was 33% this year.
Board members thanked HHS for the presentation and success examples and asked staff to provide KPI figures to be included in the budget book for presentation to the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA). The chair moved to preliminarily approve the state welfare budget; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote.
The board asked HHS to follow up with KPI data by email and staff noted they would incorporate those statistics in the formal budget materials. The board did not take final action; the vote recorded was a preliminary approval at the meeting.
