Boise, Idaho (CBS2) – A CBS2 investigation into Idaho’s foster care system finds the state is sending more than 200 children to homes and facilities out of Idaho. During the 2022 federal fiscal year, 193 children were placed in homes out of state and 46 children went to out of state facilities.
A federal fiscal year is October 1st-September 30th. The number was even higher in previous years. Documents obtained by CBS2/IdahoNews.com show the state sent 307 children out of state in the 2021 fiscal year, 337 children out of state in the fiscal year of 2020 and 308 children out of state in fiscal year 2019.
Documents show the state has 18 contracts with out of state facilities to house children in the state’s foster care system. Those facilities are in Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Montana, Tennessee, Utah, and Washington states.
CBS2 reached out to Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to find out why children are being sent out of state and what supervision takes places at the state level. IDHW says some of the children going to homes out of state are moving-in with family members. In other cases, IDHW’s Child Welfare Bureau Chief Andie Blackwood says, “children are able to receive services that Idaho doesn’t provide in its facilities.” Some of these services include mental and behavioral health.
When it comes to the well-being of children in private facilities, Blackwood says IDHW is involved in what’s happening with the child, monitoring their well-being in facilities that are in Idaho and across the country. She says they do have workers who make visits to check-on the children.
Blackwood says Idaho is in need of more foster homes, especially those where parents are trauma-informed. She says IDHW can help provide this training to parents interested in helping in this area.
Another group working to help Idaho’s foster children is CASA of Southwest Idaho. The group, which is made-up of trained court appointed special advocates for foster children tells CBS2 children they notice kids will shut down when they aren’t around family and friends. “We're taking them out of their community and these kids already have very small support around them and then we're taking them to Arkansas, Tennessee and Utah. That’s away from even what support they might actually have here,” says CASA Executive Director Bekah Bowman.
Bowman says the CASA volunteers do calls with the children whenever they can to check on their well-being. They also will send gifts from Idaho to remind them of home.
CASA says putting foster children in facilities both in Idaho and out of state is a last resort. “It could be behavioral challenges. They may have had unsuccessful placements in foster homes and had to move around,” says Bowman. “When you think about the kids coming into care, you think about significant abuse, neglect, abandonment - hard things. That does hard things to our kids.”
Do you have a story to share with CBS2/IdahoNews.com about Idaho’s foster care system? Email here
Resources
To become a foster parent, click here
To connect with CASA of Southwest Idaho, visit here
