State should take financial pressure off services for kids

Once again, financial pressure on the state could be taking its toll on the youth of New Haven. A long-running program operated by the Clifford Beers Clinic to help youths who are engaged in sexually inappropriate behavior is in danger of losing its funding July 1.

The program, Juveniles Opting to Learn Alternative Behaviors, is designed for kids who are at-risk with problem sexual behaviors, sex trafficking and at risk for substance abuse.

It serves 80 to 100 kids a year who have not yet gotten involved with the juvenile court system.

More importantly, it has met with good clinical success since being implemented 25 years ago, according to Alice Forrester, the clinic’s CEO.

The future of 80 to 100 kids should be worth a lot to the state of Connecticut but once again, the interests of low-income and troubled youth are cast aside as their advocates work to withstand the bumpy ride of having the resources they need either taken away or reduced.

And at the state Capitol where lawmakers shift and move money to cover shortfalls, the funding Clifford Beers had access to now lies within a program that is out of reach to the agency.

State legislators moved the juvenile justice money from the state Department of Children and Families — to which the clinic had access — to the Court Support Services Division of the state Judicial Branch due to cutbacks.

But CSSD only works with kids in the court system; Clifford Beers keeps them out.

According to Forrester, CCSD has said “they will only be able to use their dollars for kids in the juvenile justice system, and with their current providers.”

That could take a toll on a lot of New Haven kids trying to change their lives.

Ironically, the shortsightedness of state lawmakers to cut and save may end up costing taxpayers more money in the end. Forrester said the costs triple once a kid enters the juvenile court system.

Forrester has reached out to state Rep. Toni Walker, D-New Haven, but Walker told the New Haven Register she was not optimistic a majority of the legislators are willing to restore the funds.

But there are no two ways about it: Funding is needed if the state is serious about turning troubled kids into successful adults.

Allowing them to go one step forward before pushing them two steps back due to a loss in funding is not good government.

State legislators would be flat-out wrong to cut funding to Clifford Beers — indeed, given its success, lawmakers should increase its funding and also take the financial pressure off those entities offering services for troubled kids.

How else can these kids be expected to believe our system works?