State trails in paying foster parents

But U.S. study's conclusions are questioned

P-I STAFF AND NEWS SERVICES

Raising a child is expensive, especially in the high-cost Seattle area. But the amount paid to foster parents in Washington falls far behind actual living expenses, with the reimbursement rate ranking among the worst states in the country, according to a national study released Wednesday.

The survey analyzed regional living expenses state by state and recommended a minimum monthly rate. Washington was among states that would have to raise rates 76 percent to 100 percent to meet the recommendations, making it one of the 14 states falling furthest behind. The state has on average about 10,000 children in foster care.

Cheryl Stephani, assistant secretary of the Children's Administration of the state Department of Social and Health Services, said the study tells only part of the story of how the state reimburses foster parents.

Foster parents in Washington receive a monthly base reimbursement rate of $398.68 to $550.30, depending on the age of the child. Additional payment is given if a child has special needs, such as behavioral or medical issues that require extra attention. So depending on the age of the child, those additional payments can boost totals to $1,298 to $1,352.60 a month, Stephani said.

She estimated that about half of the state's foster parents get only the lowest base rate.

The "minimum adequate rates" for reimbursement in the national 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 base reimbursement rate has not seemed to deter prospective foster parents, said Bremerton resident Beth Canfield, who has been a foster mom for 24 years and trains foster parents for the state.

"Some people are surprised they get anything. Some are surprised it's not more," she said. "We all have the reputation we're just doing it for the money."

In reality, "foster parents are always spending more money than what they receive," said Canfield, a vice president of the Foster Parent Association of Washington State, known as FPAWS.

That organization is a member of the National Foster Parent Association, which compiled the national report along with the University of Maryland School of Social Work and Children's Rights, a New York-based advocacy group.

The rate of reimbursement is "a factor but not the big factor" for foster parents in Washington, said Steve Baxter, co-president of FPAWS with his wife, Daniele, and a foster dad for about 20 years.

"Something that we asked for in the last legislative session was making it easier for foster parents to get health care," said Baxter, who lives in Olympia. "Our legislators listened and changed some of the statutes, and foster parents can get (state-subsidized) basic health coverage much easier now."

Foster parents who care for children with severe behavioral or medical issues receive extra reimbursement to help pay for additional help.

"We're a family, but we do need (extra) staff, because some kids require 24-hour care," said Doug Anderson of South Seattle, a foster dad for five years.

He and his fianc�e, Tess Thomas, a foster mom for 15 years, hire staff to come in before or after dinner and on weekend outings.

"The kids we take right now probably wouldn't be in homes if there were not homes like ours," Baxter said.

The survey calculated for each state the minimum cost of adequately raising a foster child. Only Arizona and the District of Columbia pay foster parents more than this minimum amount, according the survey.

To adequately cover the cost of rearing a foster child, base payments in 28 states would need to be raised at least 50 percent, and five states -- Idaho, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and Wisconsin -- would need to more than double their current base rates, according to the report.

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.

The report expressed concern that inadequate reimbursement would worsen a shortage 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 National Foster Parent Association.

Although federal law requires child welfare agencies 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.

Arizona and the District of Columbia were the only jurisdictions whose base payments exceeded the recommended minimums. Ten states fell just slightly short: Alaska, Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Nevada, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia and Wyoming.

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