From The Pantagraph’s Annual Report | March 27, 2010

By Dale Strasseim
President and CEO, The Baby Fold

One of the hardest adjustments I made when I became the president of The Baby Fold in 2002 was the budgeting process. Although my background was always in the nonprofit world, I never experienced a situation where payment for services was so unstable, unpredictable and totally outside the organization’s control.

It has gone from bad to “the worst it has ever been,” according to those who have spent their entire careers in human services.

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Dale Strassheim, CEO of The Baby Fold, center left, talks to Rick Glass of Marcfirst about concerns that the state has withheld $11 million from agencies in the county. Lisa Pieper, left, with the Children's Foundation and Alan Sender, right, with Chestnut Health Systems express their concerns for the future of their agencies. (Pantagraph file photo, LORI ANN COOK-NEISLER)

In light of the Governor’s recent state budget proposal, The Baby Fold and other local agencies are working hard to keep the public aware of the impact on our families and services.  For more information, visit our legislative page: Just Fix It.

The backlog of State of Illinois unpaid bills, which has already surpassed $5.1 billion, is beginning to seriously affect McLean County agencies’ ability to serve their clients.

Recently, a group of over 25 United Way of McLean County agencies were surveyed to determine the impact of the payment slowdown.  Many of these agencies are struggling to maintain services and staff, and more than $11,258,064 in payments have been withheld from agencies in the county.

The agencies released their findings during a press conference at The Baby Fold in Normal on Tuesday afternoon.

“We feel the need to speak with one voice to insure the community knows what is at risk if social service agencies do not receive payment soon,” said Stacey Tutt, United Way Agency Executive Council President and Managing Attorney for Prairie State Legal Services. “Agencies in McLean County are facing insurmountable demands without the financial support that was promised from the State.”

At least eleven ocal agencies are waiting for the State of Illinois to deliver promised payments, with some waiting over 6 months now. These agencies have struggled to maintain services and staff, and may be facing significant program reductions.

Other agencies, like The Baby Fold, had significant cuts proposed by the State last summer but ultimately had those program funds restored.  Nevertheless, it has agencies wary of future funding guarantees.

“We are definitely concerned about the reliability of our State funding in this and future years,” admitted Dale Strassheim, President and CEO of The Baby Fold. “We hope for a solution quickly and that our community of support will respond to our needs appropriately.”

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IN THE MEDIA:
The Pantagraph: With state payments still late, human service agencies consider cuts
WMBD TV-31: McLean Co programs brace for cuts
WJBC AM-1230: McLean Co service providers demand state payments

Dear Mr. Brady,

My name is Mariah.  I met you today in city hall.  You told me that you can have a say if there is an idea for a law, and I am asking you to help me.  Without my counselor, I will not be able to get better from what my birth parents did to me.  DCFS has helped me for six and a half years.  Without DCFS to help me, I will not get better.  I am adopted.  I am eleven years old.  I have two foster kids in my family.  One’s name is Robert, and he is six months old.  The other one is Katlynn.  She is one and a half years old, and without DCFS to help me and my family I will be crazy loco and people will think that I am nuts. 

Love your friend ( I really hope), Mariah

P.S:  I will not be able to visit my other birth family brother and sister.

P.S.S:  I have ADHD.

Representative Brady,

My name is Shyla, and I am thirteen years old.  But this isn’t about me.  This is about all those foster parents, foster children, special needs people and most of all The Baby Fold.  If you cut back money, it will change peoples’ lives but not for the best.  Trust me, DCFS and The Baby Fold have impacted my life in so many ways.  When I was six, they brought me into a home because I was living on the streets, and now I’m adopted and have a loving home.  My mom is an awesome single mother raising four children and two foster babies all on low income.  And if you cut back the payments that DCFS can pay for then my mom would have to work really hard to earn money to keep daycare, food, our home, fas, and clothes but then she would have less time to raise a family.  Right now we have two babies living with us who we love dearly and want to adopt but it would make it really difficult without the help of DCFS.  Then what will happen to those babies and all those other foster children who have found a new kind of love?  Another issue I would like to address is my therapist is going to lose her job and a lot of others who change peoples’ lives.  Please help us!

Sincerely, Shyla

This letter was written from a concerned client of The Baby Fold:

“My husband and I are adoptive parents to six kids, five of which have special needs. We have a horrible time getting services for these kids on a good day but it is getting worse..

We have two mentally ill kids that receive services from adoption preservation through DCFS. I was notified this morning by my Adoption Preservation worker that their program at the Baby Fold has been cut and that they are closing all their cases in the next two weeks and will then be unemployed. Without these services, I don’t know that my family can remain safe and intact. I know that there are many more families just like mine. It is going to cost the state a lot more money to put these kids in mental health facilities than it is to keep them in a loving family setting with support services. The state has to stop the major cuts to social services, they need to see that they are not helping the budget, but are creating bigger problems.

Please take time today to call your representatives and congressmen and ask them to help stop these cuts. I have already started calling in my district and now on to other districts!”