In essence, they combine the generality required for fast hierarchical test path construction with the precision necessary for minimizing the incurred cost, thus fostering cost-effective hierarchical test.
Foster care costs the state less than $5,000 a year, he said, compared with $37,500 for residential placement.
The figures show a startling variation from council to council; for instance, a child in foster care costs £13,600 in Leicestershire and £46,800 in Sheffield.
But one of its co-authors, Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California, said some incentives in the law had been used to delay competition, rather than foster it, costing consumers money and denying patients access to life-saving drugs.
An Audit Commission study into council foster care costs and the impact the growing numbers of these children is having on council spending found that 21 councils spent under £40,000 per child in 2012/13, while 32 councils spent more than £60,000 per child.
In the context of cuts, combined with a sustained government push for more adoption, it is worth remembering that adoption is far cheaper for a council than a foster placement, costing around £35,000 per year – because once adopted, that child is off the council's books for good.
The Urban Institute estimates that a national ban on gay and lesbian fostering would cost $87 million to $130 million.
"The truth is adoption from foster care costs close to nothing, but more importantly, these children are just children who want and deserve loving homes".
California's reimbursement rate for very young children would have to be increased 61% to match foster parents' costs, according to a recent study by Children's Rights, a national foster care advocacy group.
