RIECKEN: NEEDS OF CHILDREN AT RISK NOT SERVED WELL BY HOUSE GOP BUDGET

 

INDIANAPOLIS – State Rep. Gail Riecken (D-Evansville) today issued the following statement after voting against House Bill 1001, the biennial state budget proposal authored by Indiana House Republicans:

“There are many things wrong with the proposed state budget – including a funding formula that shortchanges so many schools around Indiana – but I am particularly disturbed at the way it pays less attention to the needs of our children, particularly those who are at risk.

“For several months now, we have heard about the staffing problems at the state’s Department of Child Services (DCS), the folks who are on the front line in stopping abuse and neglect of our youngest Hoosiers. Putting it bluntly, the agency needs another 75 case managers, and the people in charge don’t see a need to hire them. This budget agrees with those sentiments, and our efforts to provide money for the additional case managers were rejected by the House Republicans.

“It’s also very disappointing to see that this budget does nothing to provide more funding for our state’s guardian ad litem program. These selfless people serve as the voice in court for abused, neglected, and abandoned children, and I worry that staffing will not be there for children in their greatest time of need.

“Most of all, I was sad to see that there was no recognition of the growing role that grandparents play in raising their grandchildren. My proposal would have been to provide grandparents with a tax credit to help them meet the expenses that come with their expanded role in care. This would have helped grandparents who provide more than half the support for their grandchildren.

“In all of these instances, the proposals found no traction among the House supermajority. They opposed them with little or no debate.

“There has been progress made in addressing the problems that plagued DCS just a few years ago. There does seem to be a renewed commitment toward helping this agency meet its difficult charge and keep us from compiling statistics in protecting children that make us a national embarrassment.

“But the process of writing a new state budget affords us the chance to put some actions behind the words, and I am very concerned that we do not seem to place as high a priority on helping DCS as maintaining a healthy state surplus.

“I know we still have a couple of months to go in this session, and the Indiana Senate has yet to outline its budget priorities. I place great trust in the efforts of  people like State Sen. Vaneta Becker (R-Evansville), who have proven track records of caring about our kids.

“But I must tell you that the budget passed today by the Indiana House supermajority does not cause me to think we are out of the woods yet.”