By Luis De La Cruz | Buckeye<\/p>\n
OPINION \u2014 The Arizona Department of Child Safety\u2019s 50% increase in daily rate payments for children ages 6 to 17 in foster care is the largest rate increase since AZDCS was created.<\/p>\n
The increase, which went into effect Dec. 1, 2025, brought the daily rate from $886 to $2,011 per month per child, depending on level of care needed. The adjustment is one of the most meaningful actions taken by AZDCS toward its strategy to recruit and retain more foster families, support kinship families becoming licensed, keep pace with rising costs to care for children and reduce reliance on costly group homes.<\/p>\n
For a long time, Arizona has been talking about how children do best in family environments where they receive individualized support, consistent care and stability, yet the dollar flow didn\u2019t reflect that priority. Instead, we saw more dollars poured into group homes, the most expensive and less ideal placement for children while family-based settings received as little as possible to care for children.<\/p>\n
In the absence of homes waiting for kids that are removed, AZDCS has been faced with paying a convenience premium to group homes to have quick and \u201csuitable\u201d housing options when children are removed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The rate change signals a prioritization of meeting the basic needs of children in foster care, which is important \u2014 but if the Hobbs administration and Arizona Legislature double down on this bold support, it can serve as an inflection point to ensure that every foster child is placed in a home where they aren\u2019t just \u201choused safely,\u201d but can really thrive.<\/p>\n
Those of us with children of our own at home \u00a0are fully cognizant that even with the new estimated $30 per day of support, it is still not enough to both meet the basic needs and provide moments of joy and normalcy that foster children deserve.<\/p>\n
The daily rate will not apply to unlicensed caregivers, children aged 5 and younger and guardianship subsidies. The solution is neither perfect nor enough. However, there is a reason why the daily rate had not changed in almost two decades \u2014 it took a blend of courage and strategy and that is worth talking about.<\/p>\n
If this works, it means more money will go to kids in foster care, more kids will be placed with families instead of in group homes and our taxpayer dollars will be better used. The solution will pay for itself eventually, and then some.<\/p>\n
Nonprofit organizations like Arizona Friends of Foster Children Foundation \u00a0are particularly attuned to how Arizona is either failing to or adequately supporting children in foster care. We work diligently to close gaps and respond to community needs in real time.<\/p>\n
AFFCF was founded 41 years ago to change the way children in foster care are impacted by their experience in the \u201csystem\u201d through several programs, but it takes a village to raise a child, and the daily rate increase is a welcome step to strengthen and expand the village of foster parents that will allow a child to thrive.<\/p>\n
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For Arizonans interested in learning more about becoming a foster parent, the licensing process, greatest areas of need and tips for selecting an agency, AZDCS has a variety of resources available at https:\/\/dcs.az.gov\/foster<\/a>. \u00a0<\/p>\n Not everyone can become a foster parent, but there are other ways to positively impact the opportunities available for a child in foster care. For example, donations to nonprofits like AFFCF help support the gaps we bridge for children in foster care.<\/p>\n Luis De La Cruz is president and CEO of Arizona Friends of Foster Care, a Phoenix-based nonprofit that empowers children and youth in foster care. Please submit comments at\u00a0yourvalley.net\/letters<\/a> or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org.\u00a0We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our\u00a0Civility Guidelines<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\t\tKeywords<\/p>\n \t\t\t\tArizona Department of Child Safety,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t AZDCS,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t foster care,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t foster children,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Arizona Friends of Foster Children Foundation\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Luis De La Cruz | Buckeye OPINION \u2014 The Arizona Department of Child Safety\u2019s 50% increase in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":487819,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,220178,216090,1587,220179,38261,220180,1589,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-488070","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-arizona-department-of-child-safety","11":"tag-arizona-friends-of-foster-children-foundation","12":"tag-az","13":"tag-azdcs","14":"tag-foster-care","15":"tag-foster-children","16":"tag-phoenix","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115827915087787068","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}