Butterworth Decries Cuts To Children's Programs

TALLAHASSEE - When economic times get tough, children suffer.

That's what makes the Legislature's proposed cuts to services for vulnerable children "unconscionable," Bob Butterworth, Secretary of Florida's Department of Children & Families, charged on Tuesday.

"They're cutting more than anyone ever anticipated," Butterworth said. "We cannot stand by and allow these kinds of cuts to take place."

Around and above him, painted handprint cut-outs and other brightly colored artwork transformed the rotunda into a virtual kaleidoscope. But with the state facing a $3 billion shortfall and as much as $50 million in child services at risk, the mood among child advocates was anything but festive.

"I wish I knew what the solution was; I wish there was a silver bullet to this problem - but there's not," Glen Casel, chairman of the Florida Coalition for Children, said at a news conference. "But we've got to find something, ... we've got to do better than we're doing."

Among the proposed cuts for low-income children and families:

•Healthy Start, providing health screenings and other services for expectant and new mothers and their children (Senate cut: $3 million; House cut: $5 million).

•Healthy Families, teaching parenting skills and providing other social services (Senate and House cut: $3.8 million).

•School Readiness subsidized child care (Senate cut $17 million; House cut $12.4 million).

•Foster care services (Senate cut: $25 million; House cut: $32 million).

Durell Peaden, chairman of Senate Health and Human Services Appropriations and a doctor by trade, said this kind of budget trimming is painful - "harder than practicing medicine."

"We can't write a check without the money in the bank," said Peaden, R-Crestview.

Butterworth argued vehemently against proposed reductions to the state's child protection workers.

"At our abuse hot line, the amount of calls are going up, which is not unusual when you have a downturn in the economy," he said. "You have more domestic violence; you have more substance abuse. ... This is not when you cut the safety net; this is when you expand it."

Cuts to programs such as Healthy Start and School Readiness will not only hurt families, Butterworth said, but will also cost the state more in the long run.

But Rep. Dean Cannon, head of the House Economic Expansion and Infrastructure Council, which oversees the School Readiness funding, defended the cut as an example of how the House is trying to slice surgically. Children in families with the lowest incomes will not be cut from School Readiness, he said. The youngest and most at-risk will likewise be top priority.

"Those who suggest these cuts are not thoughtful are missing the fact that we are prioritizing," said Cannon, R-Winter Park.