HELENA — A legislative panel on Friday approved a $6 million increase over the next two years for Montana to deal with the growing number of children in foster care, though it kept mostly intact the overall cuts proposed for the state health department’s two-year budget.
The money approved by the Joint Subcommittee of Health and Human Services for the Child and Family Services’ foster care caseload — $16 million total — comes with a caveat. It’s one-time funding, meaning the increase won’t automatically go in the agency’s budget after 2019.
The Republican lawmakers on the panel said that before they consider a permanent funding increase, they want to see the agency create a strategy for dealing with the record number of children in the state’s foster care program and evidence that the strategy is working.
“We’ve gotten so out of control in terms of the number of kids who are in foster care, the number of kids who are suffering from abuse and suicide numbers for kids,” House Appropriations Chairwoman Nancy Balance said. “We’re not going to keep throwing money at this problem if they can’t come up with a plan.”
There are more than 3,400 children in the state’s foster care system. The Child and Family Services agency also has come under criticism for both wrongly removing children from their homes and failing to do so in dangerous situations.
Two Democratic members of the panel, Rep. Marilyn Ryan of Missoula and Sen. Mary Caferro of Helena, both voted against restricting the foster care money. The agency needs to have funding stability to be able to plan, Ryan said.
“They’re dealing with a crisis,” she said.
The subcommittee passed the restricted funding increase along with the larger budget for the state Department of Public Health and Human Services. The panel began its work last month with a proposal to cut $93 million in state and federal funds for the department compared with its current budget, and Ballance said those cuts largely remained intact.
The Republican-led Legislature is trying to fix a budget shortfall by making deep spending cuts across state government. GOP leaders are reluctant to raise taxes, as Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock has proposed in his budget plan, and they aim to leave $200 million in reserve compared with Bullock’s plan to leave $300 million for unexpected costs.
Other legislative budget subcommittees also wrapped up their work this week. The full House Appropriations Committee is expected to begin work next week to incorporate the subcommittees’ various recommendations into a single draft for a state spending plan for 2018-2019.