Proposed state budget cuts would slice state payments to foster and adoptive parents by 5 percent.

People who take in kids from the state's child welfare system aren't motivated by money, state officials and others say. Still, the reductions in maintenance payments could affect their willingness to continue.

"At some point, each individual family has to make a decision what they can do, regardless of where their passion is," said Cheryl Goodwin, president and chief executive of Family Resources Inc., which provides services to foster and adoptive parents.

Daily maintenance rates vary depending on the age and need of a child. They start at about $16 per day and run as high as nearly $34.

The proposed cut would save $1.1 million in the Department of Human Services. The cuts would take effect Jan. 1, according to the preliminary proposal.

Gov. Chet Culver is scheduled to announce decisions next week on how departments will meet his 10 percent across-the-board order.

Kids coming out of the child welfare system often come with a variety of challenges, state and local officials say.

Parents who take them in often do so out of altruism. Still, the payments help defray costs.

"We recognize it will be a hardship for people," said Roger Munns, a DHS spokesman.

There are thousands of adoptive and foster parents statewide, including hundreds in the Quad-City region.

Lynhon Stout, executive director with the Iowa Foster and Adoptive Parents Association, said a 5 percent cut is nothing to ignore. But she added she had feared it would be greater.

"I was afraid it would be 10 percent," Stout said.

She said she had not heard yet from foster families, probably because many had not seen the details of the proposed cuts.

Stout was concerned that reductions in maintenance payments might be accompanied by cuts in Medicaid coverage and other support services. Munns, however, said Medicaid wasn't affected in this area.

There will be a 5 percent reduction in Family Resources' contract with DHS to provide support services, training and certifications.

Goodwin said Thursday the agency still is studying how it will deal with the proposed cuts.