New Report: Are Children the Victims of the States Budget Cuts?

Although we have entered upon a new year and a new decade, we still find ourselves battling the demons of the past. While we often look to the New Years it as a time for a fresh start and of renewed hope, we still find ourselves embattled in a recession. The continued recession has left the country in a housing crisis, inundated with record high revenue losses, a credit crisis, and extremely high levels of unemployment. All of this has undoubtedly left families strained and stretched to the limits, but has also caused, state budgets to be dramatically cut. However those who are baring the brunt of the crisis and substantial cuts across the board, are children.

A new report has been issued in an effort to highlight the extreme effects that millions of American children are facing, as states continue to slash access and funding for basic services and programs many of which are now facing record numbers of enrollment. Every Child Matters, the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (NACCRRA), and Voices for America’s Children, have just released a new report, State Budget Cuts: America’s Kids Pay the Price.  The report was composed in order to ‘urge the federal government to expand children’s programs that will create new jobs while providing long-term benefits for children. Every Child Matters states “this will both help protect children’s interests, and give the economy a much-needed boost.”

The report was developed through a national survey of Child Care Resource and Referral agencies. It includes the personal stories of many families who have been hurt by the economic downturn. To download a copy of this report, click here (.pdf).

For more information on the economic recovery efforts, please visit NACCRRA’s Economic Stimulus Briefing Room.