18 Dec 2009 / Posted by cr

Earlier this year, when a successful Connecticut program that has kept thousands of children out of foster care faced closure due to budget cuts threatened by Governor Jodi Rell, Children’s Rights made it known that we would not accept this outcome without a fight.

At first, it seemed that we had succeeded. The budget passed by the Connecticut legislature in August included full funding for the program. But then Governor Rell started issuing budget “rescissions” and “mitigation plans” — unilateral cuts allowed under Connecticut law after the legislature has approved the budget — including one that would have closed the program’s doors to new participants as of last week.

Once again, Children’s Rights took action — asking a federal judge to issue an emergency order blocking the budget cuts and allowing the program to remain open to new children and families.

And Wednesday, in a hearing in federal court, the state agreed to leave the program alone — at least for now.

This is an important victory for Connecticut’s vulnerable kids. The Voluntary Services Program, created as part of the settlement of the class action Children’s Rights and local advocates brought to reform the entire Connecticut child welfare system, has for more than 18 years offered specialized treatment for children at risk of entering state custody due to serious mental, emotional, or behavioral problems. It serves more than 1,000 children and families on any given day, and several hundred children enter the program for the first time each year. Suspending new intakes would leave many families with no other source for the services it provides — and the result, for many, would be dire.

“Countless families would be torn apart, and their children needlessly placed in foster care, just so they could get the services that the Voluntary Services Program already provides,” says Ira Lustbader, associate director of Children’s Rights. Ironically, Lustbader says, the long-term cost of providing these services to children in state custody would be much higher than the cost of maintaining the program.

“When children must be committed to state custody to get these services, and as their untreated problems worsen, not only does the financial cost to the state rise, but the human cost to children and families is absolutely devastating,” Lustbader says.

The battle over the Voluntary Services Program is not over. The state has argued that the children affected by these budget cuts are not protected by the court order we secured in our reform class action, and the judge has scheduled another hearing on this matter for January 28. In the meantime, though, the state has agreed to give us a week’s notice if it plans any further changes to the program — and the judge has left the door open for us to return to court immediately if we don’t like what we’re hearing.

“We remain committed to doing everything in our power to fight these cuts,” says Lustbader, “and making sure that Connecticut’s vulnerable children receive the services they need to keep them home safely with their families and out of foster care.”

Related press

Group Seeks to Cut Conn. Cuts to Children’s Aid (AP via Hartford Courant, December 9, 2009)

Children’s Advocacy Group Asks Court to Stop Conn. Budget Cut (WSHU Radio Fairfield, December 9, 2009)

Hundreds Protest Rell’s Budget Cuts (The Day, December 10, 2009)

Emergency Motion Filed to Retain Treatment Program for Kids (WNPR Radio, December 10, 2009)

Rell Backs Off on Cost-Saving Move (The Day, December 14, 2009)