Department of Human Resources and Department of Community Health
Budget Considerations Background Paper

MATCH Freeze 
02/18/2000

The following commitment is requested from the State in the FY2001 Budget:
  Rate Reimbursement Based on Prior Year Audited Annual Cost

Over 600 children presently reside in Troubled Children (also known as MATCH) Placements. These children cannot live at home. They are too emotionally and behaviorally disturbed to reside in family foster care or in institutional foster care.  Most of these children have suffered profound abuse and survived.  These children have many invisible, emotional scars that lead to disruptive behavior.  It is likely that if Terrell Peterson had not died, he would have ended up as one of the children funded through MATCH to receive treatment for the emotional and behavioral problems that resulted from the abuse he suffered. Troubled Children Placements provide structured, secure, treatment-oriented environments where children can heal.

Over twenty agencies care for these children in therapeutic foster care, intermediate residential treatment, and intensive residential treatment.  Most of these agencies are not-for-profit community based agencies.  They provide an array of services designed to help children become productive members of the community. 

Our MATCH providers are promised reimbursement according to the cost of the services that they provide to the children in care. Six years ago, the Department of Human Resources no longer honored these cost reports and subsequently froze rates. This action resulted in financial hardship for our agencies. Inflation and the cost of additional services resulting from the increased intensity of services required has culminated in deficits ranging from ten to twenty five percent (10%-25%). Cost reports need to be honored and rates increased to represent the true cost of providing services.

Budgetary Request:

Include budget document language that allows the Departments that serve children through the Troubled Children Fund to adjust provider rates based upon audited annual cost reports utilizing appropriated funding.

For More Information: Normer Adams, GAHSC, 404.572.6170