Idaho Health and Welfare requesting more staff to reduce foster care children

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — The number of Idaho children in foster care is declining, but the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare wants to continue reducing it.

Deputy Director Monty Prow said that right now, there are 1,278 children in foster care; 18 months ago, that number was 1,500. He said this is because of their initiatives.

“Getting kids out of care into more permanent homes, whether that’s through reunification with bio-mom or dad or other family members, or move in to adoption,” Prow said.

Prow said their department has 430 staff members working with children and families. Still, they are requesting an additional 58 staff members. These workers would focus on prevention initiatives for children.

“What you are looking for is increasing the protective factors, while decreasing the risk factors in the home,” Prow said. “And if you can do that, in a reasonable time frame, you can keep that family whole and avoid a removal all together.”

The Fifth Judicial District Court Appointed Special Advocates Program in Twin Falls advocates for abused and neglected children in court. Last year, it helped 284 children and is working with 174 this year. It has seven full-time staff members and 50 volunteers who work on cases to help children.

Executive Director Tahna Barton said more workers for health and welfare would also benefit their office, as more preventive initiatives would reduce the number of cases going to court.

“When cases are decreased, then our caseload is decreased, and our staff workload is decreased, so that’s always helpful,” Barton said.

Prow added that the additional staff would allow them to extend the foster family helpline hours to make it available around the clock. The line is available from 5 a.m. until 8 p.m.

“If they can’t get ahold of their foster caseworker because it’s midnight on a Saturday, now they’ll have a member of our staff at a the clinical level responding to their request,” Prow said.

Prow added that it could also help them recruit more foster families, as they can always use more.

Talks to get more staffing are still going on in the state legislature.

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