Ohio officials are taking steps to address the rising cost of foster care placements. The Ohio Controlling Board approved a $253,016 contract extension to continue working on a market-rate study and statewide foster care rate card.

Foster Care Placement Costs

State officials say foster care placement costs have increased by roughly 50%, placing significant financial pressure on county children services agencies. These agencies are typically responsible for covering much of the expense while working to quickly find safe placements for children removed from their homes.

According to Bryan Stout, Legislative Director of the Ohio Department of Children and Youth, this is a deliberate step to provide transparency to the process, ultimately to assist counties with their ballooning costs. The statewide rate card concept was included in Ohio’s most recent operating budget.

State leaders hope it will provide counties with better pricing information when arranging foster care placements. However, officials acknowledge that finding meaningful comparisons has proven difficult due to the varying medical, behavioral, or mental health needs of children entering foster care.

Challenges in Creating a Pricing System

The original plan relied on foster care providers voluntarily submitting financial information to the state. However, participation was too limited to produce statistically reliable results. State Rep. Bride Rose Sweeney questioned whether the available data would be sufficient to create an accurate pricing system and asked whether the state should require providers to submit financial information.

Extending the contract will allow the department to supplement provider information with multiple years of private cost reports and federal labor statistics to improve the analysis without immediately requiring providers to disclose additional financial records.

Original reporting: WOWO News/Talk (Fort Wayne) — read the source article.