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Foster care parent reimbursement rates and ACS budget allocation
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Council Member Stevens inquires about the current reimbursement rates for foster care parents and how ACS allocates its budget for foster care expenses. Commissioner Dannhauser provides an overview of the reimbursement system and budget structure.
- Reimbursement rates are set by the state and vary based on the child's age and needs
- Rates range from $36 per day for basic care of young children to $103 per day for teenagers with exceptional needs
- The state has increased rates recently, but this is currently an unfunded mandate
- ACS is working with the Office of Management and Budget to ensure continued coverage of these rates
- Foster care expenses are primarily housed in two specific program areas in the ACS budget
Althea Stevens
0:34:52
Thank you.
0:34:53
ACS relies on multiple funding sources to cover, foster care expenditures, many of which are state mandates and subjects to annual inflation.
0:35:01
What is the current reimbursement rate for foster care parents, and how are those rates determined, and what metrics are used for in the calculations?
Jess Dannhauser
0:35:09
So they are set by the state.
0:35:11
There are three, they're variable by age and by need of the child.
0:35:17
And so there are three, categories.
0:35:20
One is the basic category, special needs, then exceptional needs.
0:35:26
And so that ranges for zero to five on on the basic level for $36 a day to a hundred and $3 for a teenager who has exceptional needs, might have a developmental disability as as one example.
0:35:42
The state, you may recall from from budget hearings, increased the rates, which we are very supportive of, and they've been increasing over the past fiscal years.
0:35:53
It's an unfunded mandate at this point.
0:35:56
They did not add additional monies for us to cover that.
0:35:59
So it is one of the cliffs that we speak with with OMB to make sure we can continue to cover those rates so that I can we can provide the exact detail in writing.
Althea Stevens
0:36:09
Okay.
0:36:11
Or in March.
0:36:12
You know, we'll see you next month.
Jess Dannhauser
0:36:13
That's right.
0:36:14
I'll see you in a month.
Althea Stevens
0:36:16
And fiscal twenty twenty six preliminary preliminary budget, ACS budget, included two program areas specifically that it's catered to expenditures related to foster care service.
0:36:25
Can ACS confirm if all foster care related expenses are housed in those program areas?
0:36:31
And please provide the budget codes associated with those foster care related expenses.
Jess Dannhauser
0:36:37
Thank you.
0:36:37
The the bulk of them are in in those categories.
0:36:41
There's a few that are fairly technical that get to sort of some of the adoption subsidies and some of the other.
0:36:47
So I have the budget codes here that cover the entire foster care, and so we can give it back to Stephanie.
0:36:52
Oh, someone has to And now it shouldn't go up.
Althea Stevens
0:36:55
She needs to.
Jess Dannhauser
0:36:56
I tried that last time to come give it to you.
Althea Stevens
0:36:58
I know.
0:36:58
And I want you to get tackled.
0:37:01
Can just hand to me here.
Pedro Gonzalez
0:37:03
Thank you.