Polygamy foster care tab $21M in 2009

AUSTIN, Texas, May 20 (UPI) -- Texas officials estimate it will cost the state about $21 million next year to care for the hundreds of children removed from a polygamist cult.

The state Health and Human Services Commission estimated that basic foster care, the least expensive of the four levels, will run $39 a day for the 450 children, although many have been placed in the pricier $106-a-day emergency care level.

"The focus has always been on what you do for the children and how do you protect the children," commission spokeswoman Stephanie Goodman told The Dallas Morning News. "Obviously, we have to take care of the costs as well."

The Morning News said Tuesday that there are additional costs factored in, including health care and hiring new protective services workers.

The Texas state Senate Finance Committee met Tuesday to further examine the cost estimates for the investigation into alleged child abuse at the polygamists' compound in western Texas.