The state’s budget crunch means as many as 55 Lawrence-area families won’t receive government assistance to keep their children out of foster care during the coming fiscal year.

Local officials with the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services described their local budget woes Monday morning during a meeting of nearly three dozen “stakeholders.”

“We will prioritize who gets the service,” said Arthurine Criswell, director of the SRS office in Lawrence. “To do something because it’s a nice thing to do is no longer an option.”

The family preservation program targets families in imminent danger of having a child removed from the home into SRS custody. The program provides a year’s worth of services to help the families understand and change their bad behaviors.

The Kansas Legislature actually voted an additional $2.75 million for “family preservation” services for 2003, part of the SRS’ $119 million budget for children and families. But SRS officials say that’s $8.5 million less than they need from state coffers to keep up with the caseload. That means 971 families across the state won’t get help.

In the Lawrence area, which includes seven northeast Kansas counties, SRS says it has $600,000 less than it needs to serve all the families in need of assistance.

Colleen Pederson is the contract administrator for DCCCA in Lawrence, which administers the family preservation program for SRS. She said the budget squeeze began in October as state revenues fell short of the budget; before that, she said, there was money to help 115 Lawrence-area families avoid foster care. Now, she said, there is money for only 60 families.

“We’ve had some families call us up and want services,” Pederson said. “I know there are families that aren’t getting services that used to.”

So far, she said, there hasn’t been a noticeable increase in foster care admissions as a result.

“It’s a little early for something in October to show that kind of rebound,” Pederson said. “Families that find themselves in crisis tend to heal themselves temporarily. Then these problems come back up later.”

State SRS officials said in a budget memorandum that the family preservation program would now be targeted at families “most likely to benefit from the service.” Criswell said that locally, families would receive services based on the greatest need.

Families who are screened out will be referred to other social service agencies, Criswell said  even though many of those agencies face budget problems of their own.

“I don’t want the kids going into out-of-home placement,” she said. “We’re not giving up on them.”