1. A statewide expenditure target for children in group foster care placements in a fiscal year, which placements are a charge upon or are paid for by the state, shall be established annually in an appropriation bill by the general assembly. The department and the judicial branch shall jointly develop a formula for allocating a portion of the statewide expenditure target established by the general assembly to each of the department's regions. The formula shall be based upon the region's proportion of the state population of children and of the statewide usage of group foster care in the previous five completed fiscal years and other indicators of need. The expenditure amount determined in accordance with the formula shall be the group foster care budget target for that region. A region may exceed its budget target for group foster care by not more than five percent in a fiscal year, provided the overall funding allocated by the department for all child welfare services in the region is not exceeded.
2. For each of the department's regions, representatives appointed by the department and the juvenile court shall establish a plan for containing the expenditures for children placed in group foster care ordered by the court within the budget target allocated to that region pursuant to subsection 1. The plan shall include monthly targets and strategies for developing alternatives to group foster care placements in order to contain expenditures for child welfare services within the amount appropriated by the general assembly for that purpose. Each regional plan shall be established in advance of the fiscal year to which the regional plan applies. To the extent possible, the department and the juvenile court shall coordinate the planning required under this subsection with planning for services paid under section 232.141, subsection 4. The department's regional administrator shall communicate regularly, as specified in the regional plan, with the juvenile courts within that region concerning the current status of the regional plan's implementation.
3. State payment for group foster care placements shall be limited to those placements which are in accordance with the regional plans developed pursuant to subsection 2.
92 Acts, ch 1229, § 10; 96 Acts, ch 1213, § 35; 98 Acts, ch 1047, §22
Referred to in § 232.52, 232.102, 232.117, 232.127, 232.182, 234.35
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