Child welfare advocates prevailed in a hearing yesterday when Assembly Budget Committee members voted to restore $80 million to state programs from the state's general fund.
Flickr photo by Ella's Dad
The vote was for funding to be restored in the upcoming budget cycle. As long as it is not undone by the governor's line-item veto pencil, as much as $133.5 million could return to child welfare programs. That amount includes the $80 million as well as $53 million in additional matching funds provided by the federal government.
During the hearing, foster children testified that the cuts could leave them homeless or unable to seek higher education.
In many corners of the state, changes made during the year when the $133 million was not available altered the way counties address child abuse and neglect, according to a survey by the California Welfare Directors Association.
Funding was carved from programs meant to place children removed from a parent in the care of a family member. It was also taken out of programs meant to help 16- to 21-year-old foster youth get their first jobs and apartments.
Other cuts included:
- 509 social worker jobs
- Sexual abuse counseling to 35 children in Butte and San Diego Counties
- Substance abuse treatment for parents in Riverside County
- $3.6 million in small stipends for aged-out foster youth for items such as deposit on a first apartment, bus passes and emergency auto repairs
The drop in funding last year is already causing delays and denials in care, according to an Assembly staff summary prepared for the hearing:
According to the counties, statewide performance data also indicates that reports of abuse and neglect are less likely to be timely investigated. Foster children are being moved between homes more frequently; and the percentage of children getting timely health examinations is steadily decreasing.
Comments
via Twitter