Minimum base rate for foster payments proposed
Nebraska would adopt a minimum base rate for foster care payments under a bill heard Feb. 2 by the Health and Human Services Committee.
LB926, introduced by Fullerton Sen. Annette Dubas would require the state Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to develop a base rate for foster care payments by July 1, 2012. The rate would be based on the cost of allowable expenses under the federal Title IV-E program, which includes provision of food, clothing, shelter, daily supervision, school supplies, personal incidentals, insurance and travel for visitation with the biological family.
The rate also would provide additional compensation for children with special needs or circumstances and would take into account the family’s geographic location in the state. Payments would be made directly to foster parents.
In addition, the bill would require the department to pay the base rate to relatives providing care for the first year of placement if the relative is pursuing foster care licensure.
Dubas said a 2007 study found that Nebraska has among the lowest foster care payment rates in the nation. In addition, she said, rates vary depending on whether foster parents work with DHHS, one of the state’s lead agencies or a private agency.
The state needs a consistent method for calculating payments, Dubas said, so that foster parents are able to provide for the physical needs of state wards.
“These families are often the only constant in these child’s lives,” she said.
Sarah Forrest of Voices for Children in Nebraska testified in support of the bill.
Over 8,000 children are in out-of-home placements each year in Nebraska, Forrest said, and the state has an obligation to make sure that their basic needs are met. She said having a consistent, adequate base pay rate would make foster care less traumatic for children by facilitating retention of quality foster parents.
Forrest also supported the bill’s provision to pay relatives caring for state wards the same rate as other foster parents. Relatives often have fewer resources than traditional foster parents, she said, yet children placed with relatives experience less trauma than those placed with strangers.
Karen Authier, executive director of Nebraska Children’s Home Society and vice president of the Children and Family Coalition of Nebraska, also supported the bill. She said LB926 would improve the state’s foster care system, but suggested that payments continue to be made through agencies rather than directly to foster families.
Agencies incur significant expenses for recruiting, training, supporting and licensing quality foster parents, she said, and payments should reflect the contributions agencies make to the system.
Foster parent Leigh Esau testified in support of the bill, saying it would help ensure that foster children’s basic needs are met.
She said a national report indicated that foster parents should receive over $600 a month to meet those basic needs. The average rate in Nebraska is $226 a month according to the same study, she said, which must cover a wide range of expenses that often include extensive travel for medical appointments and visitation with a child’s biological parents.
“This is what a child must have in order to have a fighting chance for success,” Esau said.
Melanie Williams-Smotherman of the Family Advocacy Movement testified in opposition to the bill, saying it reinforces the state’s focus on prioritizing the foster care system over keeping children with their biological families.
Funds paid to foster parents to care for children who did not need to be removed from their homes would be better-spent supporting struggling biological families, she said.
Scot Adams, interim director of DHHS’s division of children and family services, testified in a neutral capacity.
Adams said the department originally had concerns about the bill’s provision to make payments directly to foster parents, but did not object to the bill without that provision.
The committee took no immediate action on LB926.
