Arizona, California, (Indiana) Missouri, Ohio and Utah, also have cut spending on children's services because of budget problems. Some states have reduced payments to foster homes or group facilities or considered laying off caseworkers.
'Getting pounded'
"The states are getting pounded, and this is one of the few times I've seen child welfare really get hit," said Michael Petit, president of the advocacy group Every Child Matters.
According to children's advocates, Indiana put its new policy on special needs children into effect at the beginning of the year when it directed private agencies that specialize in finding foster homes for hard-to-place children to begin offering traditional foster care as well. Then, the state began shifting special-needs children into the lower-cost care.
Children who have special needs include pregnant teenagers, victims of sexual abuse, infants born to drug-addicted moms, those with severe medical problems or with behavioral problems that lead them to act violently.
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