Foster families in Michigan to see increase in funding from state
LANSING, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - Foster families in Michigan are seeing an 8% boost in the funding they receive from the state.
The increase, which comes from allocations in this year's budget, is an effort from the state government to address the shortage of foster parents.
"Every little bit of money that can come to foster parents can help them provide additional experiences, normalcy items. … Experiences, extracurricular activities, all those kinds of things," said Lara Bouse, a foster parent and advocate for fostering with Fostering Forward Michigan.
This is the second year in a row foster families have received a bump in funding, according to Governor Gretchen Whitmer's office.
"For kids that enter foster care, they tend to miss out on a lot of the things that we would consider normal experiences for children in a permanent family situation," Bouse said. "So every little bit helps."
The increase brings funding for caregivers of kids under 12 to about $670 per month and $800 for kids over 13.
"Foster parents don't do foster care for the money," she said. "There is no way to get rich doing foster care. You can't make money at this. Um, but it with that said, having some additional assistance to be able to make sure that every child in your home gets equity and is given the same opportunities as each other. That's really big."
Those 18 years and older who still receive foster care assistance are bumped up to $825 per month.
Whitmer's office said this week that this additional funding aims to ease the stress on foster families and encourage more people to sign up to care for Michigan's youth.
"We know that the cost of living is going up. The cost of providing care for children is increasing," said Rachel Willis, who serves as the director of the Bureau of Out-of-Home Services within MDHHS. "It's great to have that recognized in the reimbursement rate that we're able to provide to our foster families."
The 8% increase comes after a 20% increase during the last fiscal year, according to the governor's office.