Jenna App asked 5 years ago
I’m looking for an average cost — I’ve had a hard time finding this in DHS literature or online. Thanks~
Greg Dalton Staff answered 5 years ago
Hi Jenna – I recently used the base rate of care (to estimate min. cost savings if some or all children we serve spend 4-5 months less in care per National CASA research) that is listed here: https://www.oregon.gov/dhs/children/fosterparent/Pages/rates.aspx
So, average cost could be midrange (currently $733/mo) x #-kids-in-care x 12 months. Base rate gives a very conservative estimate.
Other options: You could get fancier & determine by child ages using DHS Child Welfare Data Book or your program child demographic data, or give a range of cost.
KarriMirande-Klamath answered 5 years ago
Hi Jenna, i asked our DHS office and this is what she said.
That is a difficult question. I can tell you how much a foster parent gets paid by the age of the child and then depending on the CANS they would get additional monies and if the child has medical needs they would get a personal care rate. The difficult part would be determining how much goes out regarding other needs for say medical needs not covered or one time payments for fees or clothing…. But let me see if Central Office data person has what they would consider an average. Talk soon. Geneia
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Hi Jenna-
While we were in our lawsuit the calculation for our counties was approximately $2100/month (which included CANS needs, transportation, personal care services and other costs not accounted for in the listed monthly rate). In terms of acute care DHS has determined that cost limit as $2,179.89 daily.
These numbers make it difficult to create an average – Let me know what you find out and see if we come close to the same cost for your counties.
Betsy
The average cost I have been given by my local DHS management team is $30,000 per year. This includes amount includes services, staff, etc, not just cost of reimbursement to foster parents.
WOW! Interesting that all of us have different numbers but also not surprising. It really reflects on how DHS is tracking it’s costs per child.