Feb. 2000

For the last two months, Utah's child welfare agency has been mired in a budget crisis. They're scrambling to get spending under control without making cuts in adoption, foster care and treatment services. News Specialist John Hollenhorst has details.

Around Thanksgiving, officials at the Department of Human Resources discovered the Division of Child and Family Services was spending way over budget, on track to be short $7- or $8-million by the end of the fiscal year.

Ken Patterson/Dir. of Child & Family Services: "IT'S SERIOUS. AND IT'S REQUIRING A LOT OF ATTENTION TO US."

Division director Ken Patterson says the budget got out of whack largely because juvenile court judges are committing more kids to privately run group homes and residential facilities. They provide specialized treatments and programs.

But it's definitely not cheap: $60 to $265 per day, per child. Patterson says judges see residential programs as an alternative to the corrections system for older kids with behavior problems.

KEN PATTERSON/DIR. OF CHILD & FAMILY SERVICES: "IT DOES CONCERN ME BECAUSE OF THE PRINCIPAL MISSION OF THE DIVISION OF FAMILY & CHILDREN'S SERVICES IS TO SERVE ABUSED AND NEGLECTED CHILDREN, WHO WE GENERALLY THINK OF AS YOUNGER, SMALLER AND MORE VULNERABLE."

JOHN HOLLENHORST, REPORTING: "OFFICIALS OF THE JUVENILE COURT SAY THEY'RE WORKING WITH THE AGENCY, TRYING TO RESOLVE THE PROBLEM. BUT THEY SAY JUDGES NEED THE FLEXIBILITY TO ASSIGN CHILDREN TO THE PROGRAMS THAT WILL DO THEM THE MOST GOOD. AND THEY SAY IT'S INAPPROPRIATE FOR JUDGES TO BE HEMMED IN BY SOME AGENCY'S BUDGET PROBLEMS."

The Division imposed a hiring freeze and cut off contracts with outside social workers. That that means higher caseloads and a reduction of services to some kids.

KEN PATTERSON/DIR. OF CHILD & FAMILY SERVICES: "WE'RE WORKING ON A CASE BY CASE BASIS TO MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE NOT INJURING ANYBODY BY MOVING TOO SWIFTLY OR TOO ABRUPTLY."

The agency is also scrutinizing more closely the subsidies it pays for adopted kids. But they promise no across the board cutbacks.