Are We Too Small?

September 14th, 2011

Major changes for the Child Development Council

The Child Development Council, a 44 year old nonprofit serving Tompkins County, is facing big cuts in funding starting as early as October this year, which will affect the county's youngest, most vulnerable residents. 

The agency has been notified that it will lose $400,000 in state and federal resources, including Medicaid and Community Optional Preventive Services funding by the year's end.  Reductions will cause the near total elimination of its home visiting services to infants and toddlers at risk.  Two programs taking the biggest hits are the Teen Pregnancy/Parenting Program and Family Support Services (for parents over the age of 21).   

The Council staff is quick to note that "all is not lost."  United Way, Park Foundation, and Tompkins County Youth Services are long-time funders of these particular services and have demonstrated support for their continuation in our community.  Sue Dale-Hall, CEO of the Child Development Council, says that the agency will have to make some tough choices.  "We will either be serving significantly fewer parents and children, or we will have to narrow the focus and lose the benefits of comprehensive programming based on each child's needs."

The Council provided 6,400 visits and consultations with or on behalf of young families last year. Using a parent coaching model, the Council goes into the homes of infants and toddlers, helping parents to identify the resources they need, to learn to engage in child development, to assess children's progress, and to support their basic needs of food, safe housing, school and jobs, and access to medical care.

"There is clear evidence that early support to families helps a child's brain and body reach their fullest potential in the first three years, creating lifelong benefits,"  states Sue Dale-Hall. "Our goal is to decrease risk factors and increase protective ones."

With all we know, why are cuts being made now?  Are they too small to care about?

While Dale-Hall recognizes that this is a difficult time for the New York State economy, "Babies are too small to speak for themselves and that makes services to them more vulnerable to budget cuts.  But as adults we can choose for them; do we want it to be a compounded loss or a compounded gain for our children?" 

Maureen Reedy, Program Director at the Child Development Council talks to WHCU about the cuts that our office is facing.