With California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposing to cut $120
million from Child Welfare Services in next year’s budget, the San
Benito County Board of Supervisors agreed to join a group of
programs that will fight the change.
With California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger proposing to cut $120 million from Child Welfare Services in next year’s budget, the San Benito County Board of Supervisors agreed to join a group of programs that will fight the change.
The Protect Our Children Our Future is a coalition that includes the California State Association of Counties, the Hollister Youth Alliance and other influential groups in California. Supervisors voted to support their efforts at their meeting last week.
The board unanimously agreed to support the coalition after Director of Health and Human Services Agency Kathy Flores presented what the cuts would mean to San Benito County.
If the cuts pass, the San Benito County children’s welfare program would lose two positions, which are vacant now, and would lose the ability to serve many children that are in need, Flores said to the board.
Flores also pointed out some of the problems it could bring up down the line, including where the kids would go after they turn age 18. With the governor’s proposed cut, the youths who “age out” of the foster care system would lose their stipend.
It was any easy thing to support, Supervisor Jamie De La Cruz said.
“This just goes to show that Sacramento doesn’t know what people want,” De La Cruz said.
