Utah Decides to Shift Money to In-Home Care UPDATED

“A state legislative audit in 2011  revealed a 38 percent increase in Utah foster care placements  during the previous decade. The audit also showed that the  number of families that received in-home support that enabled  children to stay in their homes decreased by 40 percent over the  same time period.”

They fail to make the connection of this statistic to The Adoption And Safe Families Act of 1997 that incentivizes states to place children OUT of homes so they can cash in.

 

Instead, they state it this way “The use of in-home services can result  in better outcomes for children and are less expensive than removing a child from their home and into foster care. But the change means caseworkers will need to make more home visits,  which could require a change in the way DCFS is funded, Platt said.

Pulling fewer children out of homes “takes partnerships with communities. We as a division don’t  magically create the services these kids will need,” Platt said. [“Magically” create services? What are the taxpayers PAYING your Department of Children and Family SERVICES for then?They are paying for services, not to yank kids so you can get federal dollars!]

While the 2011 audit showed more  reliance on out-of-home foster care placements, it also spotlighted that funding for in-home services had decreased over  a five-year period. Those services are fully funded by the  state’s General Fund while out-of-home placements are funded  with state and federal dollars.”

“While in-home placement provides better  outcomes for children, it is unsafe for some children to remain  in their own homes. [Wow! They admit to better outcomes for in-home care!] That means the state must have trained  foster parents willing to accept new placements.”[But they are stuck on individual foster homes of non-relatives as their ONLY option, when kinship care and small group homes equipped with trained, therapeutic caregivers may serve many children better.]

Then they go on to moan about the low amount of money that the foster carer is paid.

Utah wants to help more kids at home and reduce foster care placements

[Deseret News 7/12/12 by Marjorie Cortez]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update: On October 3, 2012, DCFS was granted a waiver to use a small amount of federal money for in-home care.

The waiver “will allow officials to shift an estimated $1.5 million over five years from the foster care budget to in-home services. The total DCFS budget was about $153 million in fiscal year 2012.” That comes to approximately 0.2 percent of the yearly budget.

“Keeping families together can be better for children, and is much less expensive for taxpayers — each foster care case costs about $46,000 compared to about $1,700 for in-home services, according to state auditors. [In-home care is 3.6% of the cost of out-of-home care! Almost three-quarters of cases are neglect not abuse, so the pittance they have set aside is another feel-good legislation.]

Utah applied for the waiver under a new law co-sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.

“This is a big step forward to allowing the hardworking men and women at Utah’s Department of Human Services and across the state to provide more of the resources they need to improve the lives of Utahns,” Hatch said in a statement.

 

DCFS can use federal money for in-home services over foster care

[Salt Lake Tribune 10/3/12 by Lindsay Whitehurst]