The Connecticut House of Representatives has approved an additional $4 million in state funding for foster care reimbursements as part of a bipartisan effort to overhaul the Department of Children and Families.
The money is expected to boost the current annual foster care reimbursement rate of $10,000 to $12,000 per family by $2,000 to $3,000.
“They are only getting about $2,200 per child per year if you are a grandparent. And if you are a foster care parent, you are only getting about $10,000 per year, which we know in this day and age is very hard to raise kids without much help and resources, “ said Representative Corey Paris (D-Stamford), House chair of the Committee on Children.
“To me, it’s sort of modernizing the way DCF does its job. It’s recognizing that the family unit is much more complicated,” said House Minority Leader Vicent Candelora (R-North Branford).
Candelora said the goal is to encourage more foster parents and help the state’s troubled DCF.
The bill is part of a broad bipartisan effort to overhaul DCF after recent audits have shown a rising number of children missing from care and concerns over child safety.
