Idaho foster system beset by problems

BOISE — Many Idahoans who encounter the state’s child protective system, especially foster parents, have been hoping for improvements for at least a decade — a lot of them have been left disappointed.

Brian McCauley is an Eagle, Idaho, resident and former foster parent who has been an advocate pushing for reform in Idaho’s foster care system for the past 10 years. When he first began, he and his wife started a Facebook page and began collecting stories regaling struggles foster parents had.

Today, he said he’s receiving just as many stories.

“Nothing has changed,” McCauley, with hands shaking in emotion, said Thursday morning to the Child Protection Legislative Oversight Committee. “When I say nothing has changed, I mean nothing meaningful has changed.”

He was one of many speakers at the three-hour meeting who underscored the challenges the system faces and possible ways to address it. During the meeting, some lawmakers were drawn to tears and others to visible anger in their frustration that there are still so many issues in the realm of recruiting and retaining foster families, appropriately addressing grievances from foster parents, transparency and accountability in the process, and most of all, keeping the children safe.

Although the problems are complex and unable to be fixed with just one change or one agency, there were two legislative proposals announced at the meeting to address some of the issues discussed.

One of the common grievances heard was a lack of trust in the system on the part of foster parents.

Rep. Britt Raybould, R-Rexburg, presented a proposal to create an independent office of health and social services ombudsman to monitor child protective services in Idaho and investigate complaints.

“We have a duty, and right now, we’re failing,” Raybould said, her voice wavering. “We need to do better.”

The legislation would transfer three full-time employees from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare to create an ombudsman, client services analyst and executive assistant. The office would act independently of the health department, the Legislature, the courts and other state agencies.

The office would be able to review complaints against the health agency if staff behavior was potentially against the law or rules, imposed without adequate reasonings, or based on irrelevant or erroneous grounds.

There would be a misdemeanor penalty that could include up to six months in jail or a $1,000 fine for retaliating against someone who made a complaint or for impending the duties of the office.

“There needs to be consequences in the event that individuals who come forward in good faith are not retaliated against for acting in what they believe is the best interest of the individual that they’ve taking care of,” Raybould said.

She said she thinks she can work with staff to find money within the health department’s existing budget to create the office without an additional appropriation.

Sen. Abby Lee, R-Fruitland, who chairs the oversight committee and has worked on several issues within the foster system since she’s been in the Legislature, will sponsor the bill in the Senate.

Lee had requested the Office of Performance Evaluations do a background review, which is an expedited report, on other states’ use of child protection ombuds; the results of the review were also discussed Thursday.

OPE Principal Evaluator Amanda Bartlett said the office found Idaho was one of only seven states that didn’t have any ombudsman function for child protection services at all, and of those seven, five had an enhanced complaints process for these services.

“We’re certainly in the minority in terms of not having this as an official function,” Bartlett said.

She identified four best practices established by the United States Ombudsman Association: independence from the program it oversees, impartiality when assessing root causes of complaints and seeking resolution, confidentiality protections that allow discretion to weight needs for privacy and transparency, and credibility when creating professional review processes.

Lee also plans to bring forward a bill putting restrictions on placing young foster children in short-term rentals.

In the past year, more than 170 foster children in Idaho have been placed in short-term rentals, such as Airbnbs. These are kids who are difficult to place because of health conditions, behaviors, developmental disabilities or sometimes just because they’re a little older and most foster families want a baby or young child.

On Thursday, there were 22 kids in short-term rentals, said Cameron Gilliand, administrator of family and community services at the Department of Health and Welfare.

Lee said she found this practice “shocking.”

“I have watched that with sadness and concern and frustration,” Lee said.

Her proposed bill would, in most cases, not allow children agef 12 or younger to be placed in a short-term retinal, temporary shelter, or congregate care setting.

A child 12 or under could be placed if there’s written approval by the health agency director, and under narrow circumstances: ff the child is aged 3 or older and part of a sibling group where one sibling is 13 or older was placed in this setting; or, if the child is 6 or older and was taken into shelter care through an emergency removal; or if the child’s teenage mother was placed in one of these settings.

There would also be a requirement that if the department does place children in these settings, it would need to file a notice of placement to the court within seven days.

The oversight committee can only make recommendations and not introduce or pass legislation, so both bills will need to be brought forward in committees for introduction and a public hearing.

The meeting included testimony from current and former foster parents who said they ran into roadblocks when trying to report that the foster children in their care were likely experiencing sexual abuse and frustration that nothing was done about it. There was also a background review about the lack of transparency in Idaho’s completely closed child protective services process.

Senate Minority Leader Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, has also been working on this issue for the last 10 years and she agreed with McCauley that it’s been frustrating.

“This is a partnership and we all have a responsibility to these kids,” Wintrow said to him. “I hear you, I’m committed to do whatever I can do as a senator to make the change that has to get made, because a decade’s too long.”

But Lee said this issue is something that will continue to be worked on. She noted that although there were many complaints about case workers, she knows “we have good people who are attracted to this profession, who are working diligently.”

“I don’t want to leave this meeting with anything less than a desire for change,” Lee said. “I think we have a number of opportunities coming forward and I will seize those as we can.”

Guido covers Idaho politics for the Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News and Idaho Press of Nampa. She may be contacted at lguido@idahopress.com and can be found on X, formerly Twitter, @EyeOnBoiseGuido.