In a recent ebrief we noted that Minnesota’s child welfare expenditures went up 74% since 2012, partly because maltreatment reports screened-in for services increased from 28% to 49%.
This trend prompted counties to add $103 million to their budgets, which then triggered state and federal matching contributions required under Medicaid and Title IV-E (foster care) entitlement programs.
This Department of Human Services (DHS) chart shows that these revenues helped fund 469 additional staff, bringing average caseloads statewide down to 12 per worker.
This second DHS chart shows that purchased services increased by $53 million since 2014.
Hopefully DHS can now tackle the next level of questions, for example:
• How much do caseload sizes vary among counties?
• Are workers better able to pay for the services in their case plans?