7 months ago
Sacramento, CA - Child welfare programs in counties across California are losing $80 million in state funding as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger used his line-item veto power to balance the state budget.
The county-run Child Welfare Services programs respond to reports of abuse and neglect.
"Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today sent a clear message to the abused and neglected children of California: Please take a number," said Frank Mecca, executive director of the County Welfare Directors Association of California.
In Sacramento, child advocates said the funding cuts will put children at greater risk. "We're basically going to be cutting the prevention services, the treatment services and the ability for children to find a safe place to live," said Sheila Boxley, C.E.O. of The Child Abuse Prevention Center.
For parents who've benefitted from programs at risk of being cut, the loss is personal. "We were taught how to be better parents and to use positive reinforcement," said Malinda Bingham, the mother of four in El Dorado Hills, who says a partly state-funded parental education program helped her and her husband cope during a stressful time in their lives.
"I wonder where some of these parents are going to turn?" asked her husband, Justin Bingham.
News10/KXTV
