Illinois people!
Our state representatives passed a budget that calls for a 70% budget cut for DCFS. I request that you email/call your representatives and congress people and ask them to change this before it is too late. The following is my letter, please consider using it or something else. Please do not write them if you disagree that DCFS should continue to be funded ;)
I am writing to let you guys know that I find the DCFS budget unreasonable. You may feel like you don't have many options; however, your decision to cut the budget as opposed to raising taxes means that many people will lose their jobs completely. At this time, we need to stand together to support all of the citizens of our state. We all need to be willing to pay a bit more in taxes, to take a pay cut, in order to continue to support those who serve our state through providing for the needs of the weakest members. We also need to ensure that we support those weaker members to ensure that they gain the strength they need to continue to or to begin to contribute to our society in meaningful ways. I implore you and your fellow elected officials to think about the long-term ramifications of this bill. You may only think it is for one year, yet, think about how long a year is in the life of a child. A teen, caught at the right moment, has every chance for change, yet wait a year, and they have entered the juvenile justice system. Multiply this by the thousands of children in state care, and recognize that we can't kick them out, but we can, through neglect, compound their problems. Every time we remove them from a home, lay-off a caseworker, cause other losses, we are compounding their problems. The budget that was just passed will have these effects. I see them daily. Please consider these individuals in your decision making process.
Thank you very much,
YOUR NAME HERE
The system has problems, yes, and I hope that they are fixed in the future. Please consider what happens to kids in the system when they do not get the support that they need. If you do not know, the answer is that they go to jail. Go to www.idoc.state.il.gov to see how much that costs you a year. The other thing that happens is that these kids have babies that end up in the system, again, if they do not receive the support they need to heal or to succeed. That also costs much more than taking care of it the first time around. If anything, this is a problem that needs more funding and not less.
Thanks for reading and considering this!
I am writing to let you guys know that I find the DCFS budget unreasonable. You may feel like you don't have many options; however, your decision to cut the budget as opposed to raising taxes means that many people will lose their jobs completely. At this time, we need to stand together to support all of the citizens of our state. We all need to be willing to pay a bit more in taxes, to take a pay cut, in order to continue to support those who serve our state through providing for the needs of the weakest members. We also need to ensure that we support those weaker members to ensure that they gain the strength they need to continue to or to begin to contribute to our society in meaningful ways. I implore you and your fellow elected officials to think about the long-term ramifications of this bill. You may only think it is for one year, yet, think about how long a year is in the life of a child. A teen, caught at the right moment, has every chance for change, yet wait a year, and they have entered the juvenile justice system. Multiply this by the thousands of children in state care, and recognize that we can't kick them out, but we can, through neglect, compound their problems. Every time we remove them from a home, lay-off a caseworker, cause other losses, we are compounding their problems. The budget that was just passed will have these effects. I see them daily. Please consider these individuals in your decision making process.
Thank you very much,
YOUR NAME HERE
The system has problems, yes, and I hope that they are fixed in the future. Please consider what happens to kids in the system when they do not get the support that they need. If you do not know, the answer is that they go to jail. Go to www.idoc.state.il.gov to see how much that costs you a year. The other thing that happens is that these kids have babies that end up in the system, again, if they do not receive the support they need to heal or to succeed. That also costs much more than taking care of it the first time around. If anything, this is a problem that needs more funding and not less.
Thanks for reading and considering this!