He says budgeted cuts for the program that targets high-risk parents would be "devastating."
By CARRIE JOHNSON, Times Staff Writer
Published April 8, 2005
TALLAHASSEE - As legislators began dividing up the state budget Thursday, Gov. Jeb Bush made a plea to preserve funding for a program aimed at reducing child abuse by reaching out to high-risk parents.
Bush is asking for $28.4-million for Healthy Families, which matches parents with a support worker who visits the home to provide guidance and support. That is the same amount the program got this year.
The Senate proposed cutting it by $7-million and the House by $15-million.
Bush said the cuts would be "devastating" and urged the Legislature to fully fund the program.
"We should be discarding the things that don't work and expanding the things that do," Bush said. "For some odd reason that has yet to be explained to me, theLegislature ... didn't get this right."
The voluntary program typically targets low-income single parents with less than a high school education. Services begin during pregnancy and can last up to five years.
Modeled on a national program, Healthy Families was created by the Legislature in July 1998. More than 22,700 families participated between Jan. 1, 1999 and Dec. 31, 2003.
A five-year study conducted by Williams, Stern & Associates showed Healthy Families participants had a 20 percent less frequent rate of child abuse and neglect than all families living in their target area. Also, 95 percent of families who completed the program were free from abuse and neglect one year later.
The House and Senate will negotiate their budget differences over the coming weeks. New estimates to be announced next week could add $1-billion in available money, making it easier for legislators to fully fund the program.
Bush was flanked at a news conference by Healthy Families leaders, as well as Department of Children and Families Secretary Lucy Hadi and Shannon Kaltenbronn, a Healthy Families participant from New Port Richey.
Kaltenbronn, 27, was a 10th-grade dropout and a drug addict when she became pregnant at age 24. She picked up a Healthy Families brochure at the clinic where she received her pregnancy test.
At first, Kaltenbronn didn't show much promise.
"When I got to her house, she wouldn't get off the couch," said Diana Soto, Kaltenbronn's caseworker.
But Soto kept working with Kaltenbronn, encouraging her to play with her daughter, Kyra, and bringing her puzzles and drawing materials they could use together.
Kaltenbronn no longer uses drugs, is taking classes for her GED and has a job clearing tables at Mel's Diner on U.S. 19.
And she has become a good mother.
"Programs like this give you hope," Kaltenbronn said. "There's too many people out there who think there's no future."
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