Nebraska families who take in foster children often are paid less than half the amount it takes to care for a child, according to a first-of-its-kind survey.
staff and wire reports | Posted: Tuesday, October 2, 2007 7:00 pm
Nebraska families who take in foster children often are paid less than half the amount it takes to care for a child, according to a first-of-its-kind survey.
And the state’s basic foster care rate is the lowest among the states and counties in the survey, compiled by the University of Maryland School of Social Work, the National Foster Parent Association and Children’s Rights, a New York-based advocacy group.
Nebraska’s monthly base rate for children up to age 5 is $236, while the cost to raise a 2-year-old is $629 a month, according to the survey.
Nebraska is among five states — including Idaho, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin — that would need to more than double base rates to adequately cover the cost of rearing a foster child, the report said.
But Nebraska foster care officials say the survey, which looked at data from 21 states and five counties, is flawed.
Base foster care rates are defined very differently from state to state, so what Nebraska treats as “add-ons” to the base rate may be part of another state’s base, said Chris Hanus, a child welfare administrator with the Department of Health and Human Services.
Nebraska’s foster care payment rate for a young child can range from $236 to $1,135, depending on an assessment of the child’s behavior, physical and emotional needs, she said
In addition, foster parents can receive money for respite care, for travel of more than 100 miles a month, for child care if they work or go to school.
In a letter to the study staff, Hanus did note that in August about 68 percent of payments for young children were at the lowest base rate while about 33 percent of payments for children age 12 and older were at the lowest end of the base rate.
Of the more than 500,000 U.S. children in foster care at any given time, about 75 percent live with foster parents, while most of the others are placed in group homes and institutions.
In Nebraska less than half the more than 7,000 state wards live in traditional foster care homes, according to HHS data.
The report expressed concern that inadequate reimbursement rates would worsen a shortfall of foster parents, “potentially increasing the likelihood that children will be placed in institutions or shuttled from one foster placement to another.”
“The bottom line is that when these rates don’t reflect the real expenses that foster parents face, it’s the children who suffer,” said Karen Jorgenson, executive director of the Foster Parent Association.
Hanus said she didn’t know whether Nebraska’s foster care payments reflect the cost of raising a child.
Nebraska has never done such a study and agency staff haven’t had a chance to look at the factors that went into the costs determined by the study, Hanus said.
And a Nebraska advocate for children, Kathy Bigsby Moore, says people become foster parents for a variety of reasons, not for the money.
“The amount of base payment may not deter someone from becoming a foster parent, but then it places them in a much more stressful, difficult situation, and impedes their ability to be successful,” said Moore, executive director of Voices for Children.
Although child welfare agencies are required by federal law to reimburse foster parents for the cost of raising foster children, there is no national minimum, leaving states and localities free to set their own rates. The result is a huge disparity.
The base rates paid for raising a 2-year-old foster child range from $236 a month in Nebraska to $869 in the District of Columbia.
The “minimum adequate rates” in the report represented the cost of providing basic needs — housing, food, clothing and school supplies — as well as a child’s participation in normal after-school sports and activities.
The monthly rates recommended by the report, averaged out on a national basis, were $629 for 2-year-olds, $721 for 9-year-olds and $790 for 16-year-olds.
The average actual monthly base rates offered by states are $488 for 2-year-olds, $509 for 9-year-olds and $568 for 16-year-olds.
While Arizona and the District of Columbia were the only jurisdictions whose base payments exceeded the recommended minimums, 10 other states fell short by only small amounts: Alaska, Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Nevada, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia and Wyoming.
Nebraska foster care officials don’t believe the monthly payments are a major factor in a family’s decision to become or continue as a foster parent.
That’s not a complaint they hear very often, Hanus said.
She doesn’t know if money is an issue, said Hanus. “But it is not something we hear about.
“I don’t believe foster parents get into foster parenting for the money and I don’t think they are leaving because of the money,” she said.
Julie Farber, director of policy for Children’s Rights, said she hoped child welfare officials in Nebraska and other states with low rates would use the report to press their legislatures for more funding.
In California, Farber said, the number of foster parents has been dropping, and child welfare officials already have cited inadequate reimbursement as a factor.
“They know it stands in the way of doing their job,” she said.
Journal Star reporter Nancy Hicks contributed to this report. She can be reached at 473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com. Associated Press writer Oskar Garcia in Omaha also contributed.