Foster parents decry possible cuts

A recommended 10 percent reduction in the budget for the state's foster families would turn taking care of the abused and neglected children in state custody from financial burden to financial impossibility, foster parents say.

A 10 percent cut is huge to foster families, all of whom spend more than they are paid for their efforts every month, Jennifer Gardner, a foster mother and a leader of a foster family support group in Box Elder County, said Wednesday after lawmakers finished reviewing budget cut recommendations for this year and next.

"I don't know any family that even breaks even," Gardner said. "That cutback equals a year of diapers for a child, or half the food."

She and her husband, Keith, have been foster parents for five years. They are between placements at the moment, "and if the budget really is cut by that much, we might stay in-between for quite a while."

Gardner said neither she nor any foster family she knows does it for the money.

"We include our foster kids just like our own kids," Gardner said. "We include them in every family activity and outing, and we're glad to do it. But we shouldn't be expected to go in the hole every month for the privilege."

If the cutback is made, state foster family services will have been cut by 15 percent in the past 18 months. That would put the daily rate for a child without special needs at $13.50.

The proposed cuts would come after the state spent 15 years as a defendant in a federal class-action lawsuit brought after the death of a foster child and in response to the ongoing criticism at the time that the neglected and abused children removed from their parents' homes in Utah were being more neglected and even endangered by the foster system.

The state spent a lot of money and made a host of improvements in how abuse allegation cases are conducted and the way the state Division of Child and Family Services operates. Stricter eligibility requirements and longer training for foster parents were also part of the settlement.

Both the court-appointed monitor and the California law firm that originally brought the suit said Wednesday that while they fully appreciate the fact that revenues in Utah and every other state continue to fall short of expectations, the settlement agreement requires that child safety be maintained regardless of budgetary constraints.

There are about 2,600 children in foster care in Utah on any given day. Those figures don't include the 42,000 children who, for various reasons, including abuse and neglect at home, are living with temporarily or are being raised by grandparents or other relatives.

e-mail: jthalman@desnews.com