Cutting Children First

The state’s Department of Behavioral and Developmental Services cut most deeply in its children’s services budget when it came time to do its share of helping to balance the budget, and many lawmakers have been unhappy about that since they’ve seen the effect of those cuts. Gov. John Baldacci ought to restate his intention to support these services and help legislators find the few million dollars needed to make a huge difference in their budgets.

BDS officials said they felt they had few choices but to cut programs fully funded by the state rather than those that also received a federal match. Added to that the need to keep hospital services intact as a safety net, consent decrees to maintain services for certain clients and, BDS figured, cutting the children’s programs in such areas as case management, community support and outpatient services was about all that was left.

But the administration must ask how, if it cannot afford these important preventative services, it can afford the bureaucracy of BDS itself. Although two dozen positions will remain unfilled in the department, there will be essentially no actual job losses there: Why make the cuts at the community level before scouring the department for savings? Lawmakers need to keep their supporters from deserting them, so bureaucracy cuts may come only under a much larger agreement and too late for this budget. But lawmakers have been able to find other savings in the last month or so, and they should put these services to children at the head of the line to receive them.

Maine in 2001 spent $37 million on hospitalizations for kids suffering from mental-health or substance-abuse problems. For children ages 13 to 17, illnesses such as major depressive disorder, manic disorder and bipolar disorder collectively were easily the top reason for hospitalization, with an average cost per child of $22,000. Providing appropriate care to children in need is the right thing to do, but it is also the cost-effective thing to do. If instead of delaying care until a crisis occurred, children and their families could receive the broad ranges of services needed to keep them healthy, they would be far better off and Maine’s health care bill would drop.

One of the ways Gov. Baldacci pledged to help people with mental illness was to ensure “all people have the support in their community that they need when they need it.” His budget recommends cutting those services. The planned merger with the Department of Human Services may at some point help provide some efficiency and reduce the number of positions.

But finding extra funds for the services now amid the several million dollars still in play in Augusta must be a priority for legislators and the administration.