Narrator: Presentation of Idaho Reports on Idaho Public Television is made possible through the generous support of the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation, committed to fulfilling the Moore and Bettis family legacy of building the great state of Idaho.

By the Friends of Idaho Public Television and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Melissa Davlin: We've heard for years how Idaho's foster care system was failing both children and foster families.

But the Department of Health and Welfare and the legislature are trying to fix that.

So how are those efforts going?

I'm Melissa Davlin.

Idaho Reports starts now.

Hello and welcome to Idaho Reports.

This week, Laura Denner from the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare and Christine Tiddens from Idaho Voices for Children discuss improvements to Idaho's foster care system.

Then former Congressman Larry LaRocco shares what he heard from Idahoans after 11 town halls across the state.

But first, on Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, testified at a congressional budget hearing about his budget and policy proposals for the agency.

Idaho Congressman Mike Simpson was among those who had the opportunity to question Kennedy about his budget, including levels of support for the Indian Health Service, the federal agency responsible for public health and medical services for tribal members.

Simpson's district includes the reservations for two of Idaho's five federally recognized tribes.

Mike Simpson: I noticed in your opening statement, you want to maintain the level of funding for Indian health services, to keep the promises that we've made to our Native American Alaska Natives.

That's not just a promise, that's a legal obligation we have with those.

Those treaty rights.

So we've been doing a great deal in my bill increasing funding for Indian health services.

We also did something that we call forward appropriation so that they have appropriated a year in advance.

Because we found that during shutdowns and those kind of things, they weren't protected like other health organizations were.

Do you maintain that forward appropriation for Indian health services?

Robert Kenney: Yeah.

Yes, I fought successfully to exempt Indian Health Service from the probationary freezes from the fork in the road, the early retirement from the rifts and from all of the downsizing, and I also made an opportunity that people who at my agency who lost their jobs in other parts of the agency from the rifts, etc.

could transfer to Indian Health Service because Indian health service is chronically understaffed, it’s very, very difficult to find competent personnel who will move to Indian country or to distant locations.

I'm committed to protecting it.

I'm committed to working with you to make sure that we can finally make this work.

Davlin: Simpson also questioned Kennedy's stance on fluoride in drinking water.

Simpson: I am concerned about the fluoride issue.

I've seen the benefits, having been a practicing dentist for 22 years.

I just noticed this morning that the FDA brings action to remove ingestible fluoride prescription drug products for children from the market.

And as I'm reading through this, I want to see some of these studies.

But it says the best way to prevent cavities in children is by avoiding excessive sugar intake and good dental hygiene.

Obvious.

Then it says for the same reason that fluoride may kill bacteria on teeth, it may also kill intestinal bacteria important to children's health.

I would tell you, you don't prevent cavities by fluoride killing the bacteria in the mouth.

What it does is make the enamel more resistant to decay.

So I want to see the studies on this and where we're headed with this.

And I will tell you that if you are successful in banning fluoride, we better put a lot more money into dental education because we're going to need a whole lot more dentists.

Kennedy: It was once thought that it was systemic, and if you ingested it, that the benefit came from that.

We now know that virtually all the benefit is from topical.

And we can get that through mouthwashes, we can get it through fluorinated toothpaste.

Davlin: You can watch the full seven minute exchange between Representative Simpson and Secretary Kennedy on our YouTube channel, YouTube.com/IdahoReports We've heard for years about Idaho's struggles to recruit and retain foster families for children, as well as child welfare staffing shortages at the state.

At one point, the shortage was so acute that the Department of Health and Welfare housed foster youth in short term rentals.

In 2022 alone, about 150 children spent at least one night, and some much longer in those Airbnbs.

The legislature has since banned that practice, and last year, when Governor Brad Little appointed Alex Adams to lead the Department of Health and Welfare, Adams made improving the foster system and recruiting more families his top priority.

This week, producer Ruth Brown sat down with Laura Denner, Administrator for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare Division of Family and Community Partnerships, and Christine Tiddens, Director for Idaho Voices for Children, to discuss recent efforts by the state to address those longstanding issues.

Ruth Brown: Administrator, I want to start with you.

What is the state doing to address foster family shortages?

Laura Denner: Yeah.

So we have a lot of recruitment and retention efforts that are ongoing.

We have a new contract in place with Eastern Washington University and some, subcontracting agencies that are helping us really get the word out about our need for foster families.

So really, we have a big focus on getting foster families that are able to take in some of our older youth that are coming into the system.

Some of those teens who have higher levels of needs, they're the hardest ones to place.

And we really want to make sure that we have the families that are capable and willing to take those teenagers in to give them stable homes.

And so those recruitment efforts are really helping us fill those gap areas and those needs.

Brown: Talk to me about what is the Department of Health and Welfare doing to offer support for those families?

Denner: Yeah, fostering is a challenge, and a lot of families aren't ready for it.

And so we're really trying to find ways that both the families that are ready to foster and have foster kids, we can wrap services around them to make that easier.

And then we're also trying to get our communities really involved to support the foster families when they can't foster themselves.

So that looks a couple of different ways.

With the foster families that are already in place, we've set up a care line that's available for foster families to call when they have a kid in their home that's in crisis.

It's an actual manned clinician line, that they can call any hour of the day to get assistance from the Department.

So that's been kind of a lifeline for those families when a child's having a hard time and it's after hours and they can't get a hold of their normal caseworker.

We also have a foster family forum that's going on on a monthly basis.

So that's online where families can join us once a month.

We bring in a department program that provides services for foster families, as well as a community partner agency that's doing something to support our foster youth and families.

So we really give them the resources that are out there.

And then it also brings our parents together in a place that they can ask questions, reach out to other foster families and parents who might have experienced the same thing.

And what we're really seeing in those forums is that a lot of times, the parents are able to answer questions for each other that even us as department staff aren't able to answer.

So it's creating that sense of community for those families, which is incredible.

It's a great connection for them.

The other thing we're doing through our Division of Family and Community Partnerships is providing special events and opportunities for foster families within their local communities.

So we started an initiative called In Your Community, and we're sending out regular communications to all of our licensed foster families as well as our kinship families.

And just asking them to engage in community activities.

A lot of those are things that already exist that are free to families throughout the state that they can attend and do, but some of them are really unique partnerships that we've started.

We have a partnership with the Department of Parks and Rec, where we're bringing our families out to state parks, and doing like STEM events or, history events, to just get the families out and involved in things that Idaho families love to do.

So it's been really fun to wrap those types of services around our foster families.

Davlin: In 2021, the legislature increased the age for extended foster care to 21 years old, giving teenagers in foster care the opportunity to receive additional support when previously they would have aged out of the system at age 18.

And this year, the legislature bumped that once again to age 23 for those who want it.

Ruth Brown asked why that change was so important.

Tiddens: When a foster child ages out of the system at age 18, traditionally they're left with very few supports as they get ready to enter into adulthood.

You know, they don't have the family and financial supports that traditional young adults do.

And they face a whole lot more obstacles.

You know, they're dealing not just with facing a lot of these new opportunities for the first time, but also dealing with healing from trauma and abuse.

And they don't have somebody to just call, for help, for example, getting their driver's license for the first time.

Or applying for a scholarship or just managing a basic budget.

And so there was an opportunity a few years ago that the feds offered states to extend the age of foster care.

It's an optional choice that youth who turned 18 can elect to engage in if they meet certain requirements.

And in 2021, we partnered with a group of foster youth to write legislation and create this program.

And in the last four years it has been so incredibly successful.

I believe we're at about three quarters of youth who have turned age 18 while in foster care have elected to participate in extended foster care in some way.

We currently have over 80 young adults participating.

Most of them are going to college, higher education, and living with foster families who are able to be there for all of these things that pop up as you're navigating independence for the first time.

And we after listening to youth and young adults, we realized, you know, cutting off at age 21 was still a burden.

So why don't we go a little bit further, get, you know, the students through college and into job placements?

And make sure that they are really fully set up for that transition.

And so we helped lead a successful effort, House Bill 245, that passed the legislature this legislative session.

And watching those hearings was some of my favorite moments during last session.

We had current and former foster youth show up and I would say just very bravely sharing their stories about the reality of what it's like to be a teenager in care.

And how much they aren’t provided opportunities to get ready for independence.

Extended foster care gave me resources I never dreamed of having.

But there's a catch.

It all ends at 21.

That deadline haunts you.

You're scrambling to grab every opportunity, every bit of help because you know the clock is ticking.

Here's the truth.

Nobody has life figured out at 21.

Your brain isn't even fully developed until 25.

Now imagine trying to catch up when you've spent years surviving abuse instead of learning life skills.

Their testimony brought lawmakers to tears.

Brought a whole room to tears.

We had legislators stepping up and saying we want to do more to support these independent services.

Then we were able to celebrate signing of the bill with Governor Little and a whole room full of folks impacted by foster care.

And we're looking forward for it to be implemented in July.

Coming up.

Brown: Speaking of legislators doing more, they approved a whopping 63 new child welfare workers this year.

That's a massive increase to the budget.

The child welfare budget, that is.

What do you hope to come?

What do you hope comes of this budget?

Denner: Absolutely.

So I think what we're really looking at with those 63 positions is a whole new realm of prevention work that hasn't been possible prior.

You know, Director Tiddens already said that we've been responding to crisis.

And I think these 63 positions and people, make it possible that our child welfare workers aren't overworked.

They're not working over 40 hours a week, hopefully.

And then we're really working with families in homes to keep their kids in the biological home and keep that family intact as often as possible.

So we want those 63 positions to come in and really look at, When do we truly need to remove a child?

And it should only be when there is a true safety risk to that child.

Otherwise we want to work with those families in their homes and keep those families whole.

We know that that's when outcomes are best for the kids is always when they're with their biological families and safe in their own homes.

Brown: Director Tiddens?

Tiddens: Yeah.

I mean, this legislative session was so momentous in the forward movement that we gained with the foster care budget.

To, you know, put it all out there, it was a 20% increase that the Governor recommended and the legislature approved.

This is during a session where budget cuts, every program was under scrutiny.

And we talked a lot about deregulation hit really hard.

The lawmakers stepped up.

They shared this value of what the department leadership was sharing about wanting to do better.

And it was so refreshing after decades of being an advocate in this world, and seeing us only react to crises.

You know, staffing shortages are absolutely not unique or new in Idaho.

You can go back to 2007 and see recommendations of needing 75+ additional workers.

2017 we saw the same recommendations.

And then as the pandemic hit, everything was just exacerbated and we saw the highest turnover rates that we've ever seen.

And that’s what then was a catalyst to foster parents not having the supports needed.

Foster youth not having placements, and so being needed, needed, you know, having to go into Airbnb or sent out of the state for additional treatment and care.

Or just bouncing around placements because foster parents weren't ready to take on the high level of needs that kids had.

And so, you know, I think last year we really set the precedent of just hitting a breaking point of saying we're tired of talking about crises.

You know, we heard stories of foster youth falling through the cracks and young little ones staying in these group short term rentals.

And the legislature stepped up then and said, no more.

And we created the office of the Ombudsman to be able to look over and be a watchdog of children's rights.

And I think then it was so exciting to see the legislature continue that in 2025 with really these, you know, historic investments in foster care.

Brown: Administrator Denner, what else needs to be done?

Denner: Gosh, I mean, I think we are on the right track to supporting youth and families in Idaho.

I mean, I think a huge, thank you to the Governor and legislature for really putting faith in the administration at health and welfare right now.

I think Director Adams has made huge strides with those relationships and the trust that's been built and demonstrating that we are committed to these families and these kids.

And so what we can do moving forward I think, is just continue this track.

Continue to demonstrate to the legislature that we're taking this seriously.

That we want to make cultural change within the department, that we want to create these tangible supports for the families, and that we want to improve outcomes for these kids.

I think that's the biggest part of it, is we want to see these kids successful after they've had to engage in the foster care system for whatever that amount of time looks like.

And so just continuing, I guess, those efforts and continuing to stay the course and see this new plan out.

Tiddens: You know, working in foster care policy is so unique because it is full of complex systems.

And the State, the Lawmakers, the Governor, the Department, are responsible for caring for children in their most vulnerable times.

And it's really exciting to see, yes, the Governor and the Department really valuing how do we do better and seeing the legislature get on board.

These historic investments that we saw in this last legislative session absolutely deserve to be celebrated and applauded.

But we also need to recognize it gets us to where we should have been a decade ago.

And the crises that have come up because of long term staffing shortages and responding just on a crisis basis really lends to additional challenges and new opportunities that we can take on as a state.

Some areas that I look at, you know, with the addition of 63 new staff, we're going to need an educated workforce who are experts in social work and case management coming up.

So how do we start working with universities and students at this point to get that workforce built up and ready to do even better for kids?

And then, of course, I have to mention this week, the federal budget resolutions.

We are all eyes on the congressional packages and the potential hits to these essential social services that foster youth and families who are wanting to keep kids at home, rely on.

So think health assistance, food assistance, housing assistance.

That on top of potential budget cuts to the federal investments in foster care mean that our state very likely will be on the hook to put a little bit more forward in the coming years as the budget resolution and the congressional budget packages move forward.

Davlin: You can see Ruth's full discussion with Laura Denner and Christine Tiddens online at YouTube.com/IdahoReports Four months into the second Trump administration, Americans nationwide are pushing their congressional delegations for in-person public town halls, largely to voice concerns over federal budget cuts, mass firings of government workers and President Trump's executive orders.

So far this year, none of Idaho's members of Congress have done so, though some have hosted other events, including a tele-town hall by Senator Mike Crapo.

Starting in March, former Democratic Congressman Richard Stallings and Larry LaRocco held 11 town halls across the state.

Stallings represented Idaho's second congressional district from 1985 to 1993, and LaRocco represented Idaho's first congressional district from 1991 to 1995.

Joining me to discuss what they heard on the road is former Congressman Larry LaRocco.

Thank you so much for joining us today.

Why did you and Richard Stallings decide to hit the road?

Larry LaRocco: Well, first of all, we were filling a vacuum.

There were no town hall meetings that were scheduled in person with the congressional delegation.

But giving a lot of credit to Richard Stallings.

He called me one day and he said, I'm going to hold a town hall meeting in Pocatello, and then the next day in Idaho Falls, and he said, do you want to join me?

And I said, I'll be in my car and let's do this.

And so, we just put on a town hall meeting and, we had 75 people in Pocatello and well over 150 in Idaho Falls.

And people came out and we listened.

And just in the way that we used to, but, we really were filling this vacuum because nobody was holding these town meetings.

Davlin: What did you hear from constituents or your former constituents?

Idahoans?

LaRocco: Well, from our fellow Idahoans, they're fearful, about the Constitution and what direction it's going in.

They saw the executive orders just flying out of the white House, and, they saw no congressional action.

They saw a president that wasn't actually, consulting with, members of Congress.

And then they just saw silence from the members of Congress as these executive orders were flying out.

So, what they were really concerned about was, the Constitution.

At its core, Melissa, what we did was we went on a democracy tour throughout the state of Idaho.

Because people were concerned about checks and balances, they were concerned about the role of the judiciary.

And there was all of this, power that seemed to be concentrated in the executive branch, and people were really concerned about that.

And, when you think about it, just hours after the president took the oath of office, he pardoned more than 1,500 insurrectionists who were convicted.

And so then they moved on in a daily shock and awe, to sort of fill the channels of, in the public media, with things that would get us to forget what happened the day before.

So we were just all sort of in shock about what was happening to our Constitution and the rule of law and how people were responding.

Davlin: Did you hear different concerns in different areas of the state?

LaRocco: We did indeed.

For example, in McCall, where there were layoffs up there in the Payette National Forest.

We heard concerns in Lewiston because, DOGE was going to close the Social Security office there.

We heard concerns in eastern Idaho about rural concerns there.

What was going to happen to the INL?

And, what was just happening to, you know, rural America?

And with the immigration that was coming down, what did this mean for the dairies in Twin Falls, for example?

But the overriding concern was really about the Constitution and about our rule of law.

And, who was going to run this, the country and whether the Congress was even going to have a role in its checks and balances important role.

Davlin: Idaho has changed a lot since you served, and you represented Idaho's first congressional district.

At these town halls, was it only Democrats and Independents?

Or did some Republicans come as well?

LaRocco: Well, it's a great question because this was open to everybody.

We advertised it openly.

We sent out press releases.

So everybody was welcome.

And, I just want to make the point that nobody was paid to come here.

Speaker Johnson sort of quipped that he advised his caucus, the Republican caucus in Congress, not to hold town hall meetings because he said, oh, there's just going to be agitators there, and they're going to be paid agitators.

And so we would actually joke and ask anybody if they were paid, and they weren't.

But it was open to everybody.

And everybody showed up.

And we started every meeting wit by golly, I mean, this is our Constitution, our country and people wanted to voice their concerns about what was going on.

So indeed, it was it was wide open to everybody.

And it was a listening session from our standpoint.

We had open mics.

We would make opening remarks and we would comment on certain things if we could.

But basically we wanted to listen and we wanted the community to come together and listen to one another and feed off of one another.

Davlin: You started your political career by working for Senator Frank church in the 70s.

You have run for office since losing the 1995 election.

Or, the 1994 election.

Things have changed, though, in how members of Congress and other elected officials communicate with their constituents in the 30 years since you were last in Congress.

There are now email surveys that members of Congress send out.

There are the tele-town halls, like Senator Mike Crapo had recently.

Why do you think it's important to have those in person events?

LaRocco: Well, because you can localize the concerns, but actually have people emote about how they feel about the government and have a give and take about it.

It's so important just to show up.

Showing up is part of the job.

You can't just phone it in.

And what we feel has been happening since this evolution of politics and the growth in the state and technology and email, and so forth, there's been a disconnect.

And so we were trying to reconnect.

And town hall meetings are still held by members of Congress across the country.

This is nothing new.

It's just that I think they're afraid of confronting them, Idahoans.

With what this MAGA agenda is all about.

I'll give you a perfect example, is that the president spoke to the Congress just after he was elected.

But what he didn't do is, to traditional say, if you send me this bill, I will sign it.

If you, give me this permission, I will do it.

He treated the Congress as if they didn't exist.

As if there is only one branch of government the executive branch.

And this is very dangerous.

So it's all about his agenda.

Only about Project 2025, which is slowly being revealed to the people.

And people in Idaho were scared about project 2025.

Their private data has been hacked.

I cannot think of one more clear Idaho value than what we cherish is our privacy.

And our private data has been hacked.

And now we have silence from the Idaho congressional delegation about things like that.

About the sale of public lands.

We all know as Idahoans that people covet our public lands and that they want to buy them and so forth.

So why aren't we talking about those types of things?

Davlin: You talked about them at these town halls.

You've heard those concerns.

We have about a minute left.

What's next?

What do you do with all this that you heard from Idahoans?

LaRocco: Well, what Richard Stallings and I did is that we put out a public report on what we did.

It was just printed in the Statesman today, as a matter of fact, as an open letter to the congressional delegation about what we heard.

And, Richard Stallings was very pointed in saying that when he took the oath of office, there was no expiration date.

And I really love his approach to that because I subscribe to it as well.

And so we put out a report and sort of saying, this is what you missed.

And, I hope they come back to that.

There are.

Davlin: We're going to have to leave it there.

Former Congressman Larry LaRocco, thank you so much for joining us.

And thank you for watching.

We'll see you right here next week.

Narrator: Presentation of Idaho Reports on Idaho Public Television is made possible through the generous support of the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation, committed to fulfilling the Moore and Bettis family legacy of building the great state of Idaho.

By the Friends of Idaho Public Television and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.