LITTLE ROCK – Today, the Arkansas Department of Human Services announced cuts to state programs that help abused children. Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families says the cuts, resulting from a $2.2 million cut in federal Temporary Assistance For Needy Families funding, prove once again that budget cuts – the talk of the town among some in Washington, D.C. – mean cuts in services for those who need them most.

According to DHS, the cuts would affect funding for the DHS Division of Children and Family Services (DCFS) used to conduct child maltreatment investigations. Two vital child welfare programs that will prevent more children from entering foster homes will be eliminated. The Human Services Workers in Schools Program, which provided family and student counseling, parent training and crisis intervention services to 15,249 students last year is now gone. Funding for Family Resource Centers, which educate parents about child development and teach them how to deal with their children’s behavior, will be eliminated as well. Family Resource Centers served over 11,448 families last year.

The State Police Crimes Against Children Division will also lose some funding although the agency intends to fill the gaps by shuffling around funds from elsewhere in the State Police budget, potentially leaving other programs at risk. The cuts will take effect July 1, 2012.

Rich Huddleston, executive director of Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families (AACF), says that as we reduce prevention services like the two programs eliminated by DCFS today, we will begin to see even more children enter the foster care system.

“As funding becomes tight, we need to look at the state budget, including the TANF budget, and make sure we protect our top priority – the health, well-being and safety of our children,” Huddleston said. “The state has very tough choices to make in the short-term as funding is cut that will affect the long-term needs of our children. As caseloads of DCFS workers increase, the safety of our children will be in jeopardy.”

DCFS Director Cecile Blucker said in the DHS release that these programs have played an important role in preventing child abuse. The release also said that more cuts are anticipated in 2014. If that were to happen, DCFS would not be able to manage the 34,000 child maltreatment investigations it currently handles. If DCFS were to sustain further cuts in the future, the outlook for children suffering from maltreatment is not good. According to the release, “DCFS likely would request state legislators to remove some lower risk allegations from the Child Maltreatment Act to cut down on the number of investigations. Those would include inadequate food, clothing and shelter for children age six and older, inadequate supervision of children age 9 and older, environmental and educational neglect, and some cases of medical neglect.” Some categories might be removed completely.

“We saw this happen 10 years ago with a budget shortfall and DCFS has only begun to recover from it recently as they have been able to hire more workers and put new programs in place that addressed prevention of child maltreatment,” Jennifer Ferguson, deputy director for AACF said. “We need to make sure that children remain our top priority and see that their needs are adequately addressed in the next legislative session.”