By Eddie Drews
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS—The Indiana Department of Child Services is seeking about $300 million more annually in funding in the next state budget, making permanent the infusions of additional cash that lawmakers and Gov. Eric Holcomb gave the troubled agency.

In 2017, the budget appropriated more than $600 million annually for the 2018 and 2019 fiscal years.

But by April of this year, the department had already spent about $284 million that had been appropriated as it struggled with surging numbers of abused and neglected children and not enough family case managers. The state shifted funds to address the shortfall, and the department now wants that built into their base, rather than being a one-time cash infusion.

In all, DCS spent $956.6 million in state funds in the fiscal year 2018. Monday, Leah Raider, chief financial officer for DCS, asked the State Budget Committee for $965.2 million annually in fiscal years 2020 and 2021.

Lawmakers from both parties questioned whether that is enough and whether it accounts for a continued increase in the number of children needing help.

“My concern is that the mode of operation if you will, will stay the same,” said Sen. Liz Brown, R-Fort Wayne.

And Sen. Karen Tallian, D-Portage, who has challenged DCS spending in the past, said more is needed to help at-risk children find foster families.

“Are we doing anything to change, to encourage additional foster parents?” said Tallian. “We have a shortage and they’re not getting enough money.”

DCS Director Terry Stigdon told lawmakers caseloads are now going down as family case managers are now focused on making individual assessments for each child and tailoring services for each, which doesn’t always mean removing a child from their home. She didn’t anticipate the agency will be coming back to lawmakers and the governor again seeking more money.

The department was one of several state agencies that made its budget requests Monday to the State Budget Committee, a joint House and Senate panel of lawmakers who handle fiscal issues. Legislators will craft the next two-year state spending plan in the session that begins Jan. 3.

FOOTNOTES: Eddie Drews is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.