Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Children and Youth Services Review journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth Estimating minimum adequate foster care costs for children in the United States Haksoon Ahn a,⁎ , Diane DePanfilis b , Kevin Frick c , Richard P. Barth a a University of Maryland School of Social Work, 525 W. Redwood St., Baltimore, MD 21201, United States b Hunter College, Silberman School of Social Work, 2180 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10035, United States c Johns Hopkins University, Carey Business School, 100 International Drive, Baltimore, MD 21202, United States ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Cost analysis Foster care Foster care reimbursement rates ABSTRACT Although foster care homes play a crucial role in providing stable placements to children who enter the child welfare system due to maltreatment, there is currently no federal minimum rate nor standard methodology to establish adequate rates to support foster parents to meet these children's needs. Therefore, it is important to establish a model to estimate the real costs associated with caring for children to serve as a foundation for states to set adequate reimbursement rates. The objectives of this study are to: use the methodology of a 2007 study to establish foster care minimum adequate rates for children (MARC) based on the child's age and geographical location in every state; update the MARC with cost of living adjustments to 2016; examine changes in gaps between the MARC and the current foster care rates; and identify states that have made increases to their reimbursement rates, relative to the MARC over time. Results found that all but four states provide lower foster care reimbursement rates than the adequate costs in 2016. This study recommends that, at the federal level, enhanced precision in operational definitions of care categories could increase consistency in the way that states reimburse foster families. Additionally, findings provide policy suggestions to establish a national methodology standard and increase foster care rates to the level that will meet children's needs. This study will enhance the scant body of literature found on establishing an economic model to estimate foster care costs. 1. Introduction As of September 30, 2015, there were 427,910 children in foster care in the United States, with 45% of these children living in non- relative foster family homes (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [U.S. DHHS], 2016a). Foster care plays a vital role in the child welfare system by providing a resource to support a child's safety, well- being, and permanency (Geiger, Hayes, & Lietz, 2013; Pecora, Barth, Maluccio, Whittaker, & DePanfilis, 2009). Under the Social Security Act (section 475), “foster care maintenance payments” are defined as “payments to cover the cost of providing food, clothing, shelter, daily supervision, school supplies, a child's personal incidentals, liability in- surance with respect to a child, and reasonable travel to the child's home for visitation and reasonable travel for the child to remain in the school” for children in foster care placements (U.S. Social Security Administration, 2016). Under this guideline, states set their basic rates for families providing care for a child, and the federal government and states share the cost of paying those rates; however, there is significant variability in rates among states (Committee on Ways and Means, 2016; DeVooght et al., 2013; Rosinsky & Connelly, 2016). Foster care payments are likely to influence the quality of foster care. Studies showed that although foster care payments do not moti- vate foster parents to begin fostering children, adequate payments play an important role in foster care parents' satisfaction, and inadequate reimbursements and the concerns of financial burdens impact foster parents' decisions to discontinue fostering (Colton, Roberts, & Williams, 2008; Geiger et al., 2013; Kirton, Beecham, & Ogilvie, 2007; Macgregor, Rodger, Cummings, & Leschied, 2006). These factors can affect chil- dren's well-being by causing unstable placements and increased foster placement changes. A decade ago, DePanfilis, Daining, Frick, Farber, and Levinthal (2007) conducted a study to estimate the costs associated with providing basic care to a child in foster care in the United States, and established foster care minimum adequate rates for children (MARC). This study implemented through a collaboration between Children's Rights, Inc., the National Foster Parent Association, the American Public Human Services Asso- ciation, and the University of Maryland, was the first attempt to differ- entiate the costs of caring for children in foster care based on age and geography in each of the fifty states. The study also calculated the dis- crepancy between what states paid and the foster care MARC. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2017.10.045 Received 29 July 2017; Received in revised form 30 October 2017; Accepted 30 October 2017 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: hahn@ssw.umaryland.edu (H. Ahn), diane.depanfilis@hunter.curny.edu (D. DePanfilis), kfrick@jhu.edu (K. Frick), rbarth@ssw.umaryland.edu (R.P. Barth). Children and Youth Services Review 84 (2018) 55–67 Available online 29 November 2017 0190-7409/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T