MOUNT VERNON — With placement costs skyrocketing, Knox County Job & Family Services is asking the community to support a 1.1-mill children’s services levy on the Nov.7 ballot.
The new 10-year levy will generate just over $1.85 million. Property owners will pay $39 annually for every $100,000 in property value.
“The money is solely dedicated to children’s services; it is solely dedicated to placement costs,” JFS Director Scott Boone said. “None of it goes to administrative services costs or staff salary. It goes completely toward putting roofs over children’s heads.”
JFS spends $300,000 a month in placement costs. That number includes 12 to 15 youths with intensive needs.
“That’s a significant part of our $12 million annual budget,” Boone said. “Some of those expenses are $700 a day.”
One bill for a youth placed in an Indiana facility is $18,366 a month.
Why have placement costs skyrocketed?
When the drug epidemic hit six or seven years ago, JFS went from caring for a daily average of 25 kids to a high of 172.
Boone said it was not just one challenge the families faced, such as mental illness, poverty, lack of education, family violence, or chemical dependency.
“We were encountering families that experienced multiples of those things. When you have that many competing priorities affecting the family, it really compounds the negative effects in behavioral issues the kids experience. Especially when those events occur multi-generationally,” he said.
“As a result, the kids — and the families — require more complicated clinical interventions in order to help them overcome.”
Boone said caseworkers involve other family members when possible because it improves outcomes of safely reuniting kids with their biological families.
However, he noted that the opiate addictions that many parents and caregivers encounter become overwhelming to the point where reunification is not possible.
Types of placement costs
While working through reunification activities, children are placed in foster care, either with a family or a private provider. Reunification can take two years, and JFS pays for the child’s care.
When reunification occurs, the cost ends.
When it is not possible, JFS must find another permanent solution. That solution could be adoption.
When a child is adopted, the family and JFS agree on an adoption subsidy.
“When kids are adopted at the age of 2, that’s a great outcome, but we’re still responsible for that subsidy until they turn the age of majority,” Boone said.
That subsidy depends more on the child’s needs, such as specialized services, than the family’s income. However, subsidies do not necessarily stay the same over the years and thus are an unknown cost.
“That subsidy can be revisited each year, such as if the child develops some sort of condition that requires additional therapy that isn’t covered by insurance or some other type of issue,” Boone explained. “Parents can request that the amount be adjusted.
“And that makes sense, because it doesn’t cost the same amount per year between ages 2 and 18 in a traditional family,” he added.
County subsidy
A 1.0-mill JFS levy failed in May 2021. Since then, the Knox County commissioners provided $500,000 to children’s services from the general fund in 2022 and 2023 plus $500,000 in ARPA money. They also allocated around $26,000 from the opioid settlement.
Boone said the commissioners have been incredibly generous, and the support has often come without solicitation.
“When they see that the kids that we provide safety and protection for need financial help, they have covered it,” he said.
However, Boone said that is not a sustainable plan because the commissioners answer to many county departments and have financial obligations tied to those other entities.
“So we are again coming to the community because we desperately need their help in putting in place a structure that we can budget for over the next 10 years to account for placement cost expenditures,” he said.
“With what we’ve experienced on our end, even though the number of children in care has reduced, that baseline of 12 to 15 kids that need the higher levels of care is not going away. In fact, it will likely increase over the next five to 10 years.”
Boone said if a placement is outside Knox County, hopefully, the children will return. If placement is in the county, they will likely stay here.
“We want to make sure they are as healthy as possible because they need to be employed and able to care for their families,” he said. “And they need to be able to chase down the demons that got in their way when they were growing up.
“That’s part of our responsibility, providing safe placements for them to live in until they’re ready to reintegrate into society.”
Fiscal responsibility
Boone acknowledged that people are tired of paying taxes. He is, too.
“We are completely sympathetic to this. Believe me, we wouldn’t be asking for help if we weren’t in such dire straits in terms of expenditures required to keep these kids safe and help them become acclimated to being a contributing member of the community when they become adults,” he said.
Regarding fiscal responsibility, Boone said the number of foster families in Knox County rose from around five to over 30 today.
In addition to more children staying in local schools close to siblings and friends, the board rate is typically much less in a foster family than contracting with a private provider.
“That’s something that we’re very proud of and continue to promote,” he said. “The more we build upon that, the less expensive it’s going to be for us to house our kids safely.”
Boone also pointed to a slimmed-down staff to support fiscal responsibility. Several years ago, JFS had around 100 employees.
When an employee left, Boone said they looked hard at the position’s responsibilities to see if they could be combined into another position, contracted out, or eliminated.
“Now we’re down to around 80-some employees. That’s tight for us, but we feel that as responsible stewards of taxpayer money, it’s our obligation to make sure that we’re not top-heavy and that we’re spending our money responsibly,” he said.
For more information, email KCDJFSlevy@gmail.com or visit Facebook or Instagram @Knox County Children’s Services levy.
