In Care Facilities, Idaho Kids Are Under Less Abuse Oversight, Watchdog Government Report Finds

Idaho kids in residential treatment facilities are under less government oversight for abuse investigations than children in traditional foster homes, a new watchdog state government report finds. 

The Idaho Office of Performance Evaluations, a nonpartisan state agency, found that the state lacks several accountability measures in children residential treatment facilities.

“Children’s residential care facilities serve some of Idaho’s most vulnerable children and youth,” who are “almost three times as likely to be diagnosed with mental health disorders, behavioral challenges, or other disabilities,” the report said.

A panel of Idaho lawmakers on Friday officially released the report to the public. The report was spurred by news reporting that uncovered abuse allegations at Idaho residential treatment facilities published by the news outlet InvestigateWest.

Presenting the report to the Idaho Legislature’s Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Friday, Office of Performance Evaluations Director Ryan Langrill called the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s response — which noted ongoing progress to work toward child welfare shortcomings — promising. 

“The state lacks a formal process for investigating abuse in facilities, unlike the clear process that exists for investigating abuse in homes,” Langrill wrote in a letter summarizing the report. “When abuse of a child in a facility in foster care is reported, case workers are not required to respond as quickly as for other children in foster care.”

What the OPE report found — and reforms it recommended

Residential care facilities house children with round-the-clock care. Some kids even go to school at the facilities. 

Some kids are placed in facilities by their parents, or by the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare as part of the state’s foster care system.

Idaho has 31 children’s residential care facilities, including two that provide psychiatric care. 

In children’s residential care facilities, Idaho doesn’t have an established process to investigate abuse, doesn’t require unannounced visits to facilities, and doesn’t have a formal process to register staff found to have committed abuse in a statewide registry, the report found. 

The state agency’s watchdog report recommended a range of reform efforts — including making an entity responsible to investigate abuse in facilities, requiring at least once a year unannounced visits, establishing a child’s bill of rights in facilities, tracking ideal placement settings for children, and developing a process to include abuse perpetrators in a statewide registry.

“We found that while the (Department of Health and Welfare) shared oversight responsibilities of children in facilities, it lacks protocol to define communication or issue escalation across division,” the report found. “As a result, safety-related information may be passed from one staff member to another without timely action or clear accountability.”

How state officials, agency responded

In a letter responding to the report, Idaho Gov. Brad Little wrote Thursday that he was pleased with the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s progress — and that he and the agency want to improve more.

“We have more work to do, but these improvements and current momentum have us on the right track,” Little wrote. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare “team and I are committed to continuing this work and meeting the needs to best serve Idaho’s children and families.”

Soon after Idaho Department of Health and Welfare Director Alex Adams took over heading the agency in June 2024, he announced child welfare as a top priority for the agency. That was “largely due” to past watchdog work by the Office of Performance Evaluations into child welfare issues, Adams wrote in a May 21 letter responding to the report.

And he outlined over a dozen changes within the agency that were in response to the watchdog’s agency’s findings, including the agency’s licensing division started in May 2024 to visit facilities one time a year for an unannounced survey, expanded clinical reviews to find the best placement for kids, and visits every two months to kids in out-of-state facilities by case workers or clinicians.

“While these improvements have been occurring over the past year, we recognize that there is much work to do to improve child welfare in Idaho, and particularly to support Idaho youth living in residential care facilities,” Adams wrote. “… Ultimately, it takes strong public policy, cooperation from the courts, support of law enforcement, assistance of guardians ad litem, and collaboration with the Health and Social Services Ombudsman to ensure the safety of Idaho’s children.”

Idaho state agencies to report back on progress

State Rep. Steve Berch, a Boise Democrat, pressed a state health official on whether the Department of Health and Welfare needs more staff to implement recommendations from the new report. 

It’s probably too early to tell, replied Idaho Deputy Director for Child, Youth & Family Services Monty Prow. 

He referenced a new investment from the Idaho Legislature this year. That new budget law approved 63 new staff for Health and Welfare targeted at preventing kids from entering the foster system — by providing resources to keep them safely with their biological families. 

“It’s probably too early to tell, because those 63 folks are going to be dedicated to prevention — to keep those kids in their homes. And then I don’t need any of this back-end support, because I’m pushing it all to the front-end to do more and more prevention to keep kids safe in their home,” Prow said. 

 House Assistant Minority Leader Steve Berch, D-Boise, answers questions at a press conference following the State of the State address on Jan. 6, 2025, at the Statehouse in Boise. (Pat Sutphin for the Idaho Capital Sun)

Berch quickly replied, encouraging the department to ask for the funding it actually needs, rather than shorting the request based on political calculations. 

“The Legislature needs to know what the need is financially to deliver the kind of quality service …  not just now, but for the needs of a fast-growing state,” Berch said. “Before the Legislature decides to cut taxes, they need to understand what the needs are first. And people like you in your position and other departments need to make sure that information is available to the Legislature so they can make a fully informed decision.”

In the fall, the committee plans to hear from the Department and Health and Welfare and Idaho’s new Health and Social Services Ombudsman Trevor Sparrow about progress in responding to the report’s recommendations. 

That can give lawmakers a sense of what issues state agencies can address themselves, and whether legislation is needed, said state Sen. Melissa Wintrow, D-Boise, who requested the update.