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<br />We have also been advised by staff at the Division of Child Development that our <br />situation is not unique with the following counties reporting the potential of terminating <br />child care services: Bun(:ombe (300-400 children terminated), Craven (number not yet <br />determined), Mecklenbu~g (2,000-4,000), and Southwestern Child Development <br />managing subsidy funding for Clay, Cherokee, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Masonand <br />Swain counties (100). <br /> <br />REQUEST <br /> <br />We are requesting that the Board of Commissioners approve an appropriation of <br />$356,000 of County funds to be used during FY06 to prevent the need to terminate <br />services to children. In addition, we are requesting approval of the use of $100,000 in <br />over realized revenue fr~m the Child Welfare (5630) and CAP (5650) budgets for child <br />care services. (Attachment 3) <br /> <br />Without the requested funding, it will be necessary to terminate child care services for at <br />least 170 children immediately. Losing day care services will significantly impact the <br />families' ability to work and assure the children receive appropriate care. Loss of day <br />care services for parents with limited support systems will require that the parents either <br />quit work or make less t~an desirable child care arrangements whi.ch could include <br />leaving a child alone at home at an earlier age than would be deemed appropriate or <br />leaving the child with aniadult who is unable to provide adequate supervision. This <br />could result in an increaile in .child protective service cases. We have found that <br />frequently non-biological boyfriends are being given responsibility of child care while the <br />children's mothers work. The potential for child abuse elevates in these situations as <br />recent studies: have shown. that the non-biological boyfriend is the perpetrator in 31 % of <br />child homicides. If the loss of child care services results in the loss of employment, we <br />would expect to see an increase in applications for financial assistance and/or an <br />increase in the requests'for crisis assistance (rent, utilities, housing, etc). <br /> <br />Based on an average monthly net reduction in child care spending and assuming that <br />future child care funding remains equal to present funding, we project that by mid-year <br />FY07 we should reach the point where we could maintain services based on the current <br />allocation without additional funding from the County. (Attachment 1) <br /> <br />~-~. <br /> <br />2 <br />