Kane County pleads for mental health funds
Homeless youth, the disabled, substance abusers and those in mental crisis are being told to stand in line and wait their turn because of $1.7 million in state budget cuts that are leading to hiring freezes and staff cuts at Kane County's mental health agencies.
The result will be flooded emergency rooms and crowded jails and prisons, elected officials said Tuesday.
"I've been in the business for over 25 years," said Michelle McMullin, division director for behavioral health at The Association for Individual Development in Aurora. "This is the worst I've ever seen it."
The association is a not-for-profit that annually helps about 4,000 people with disabilities, in need of behavioral health services or seeking crisis intervention.
Today, some of those people are being turned away or denied immediate assistance.
"You're in a situation where you're having to tell someone to stand in line," McMullin said.
That line may take three months to get to the front of, McMullin said. Her agency has been under a hiring freeze since July after seeing more than $650,000 of funding cuts from the state.
And, like similar agencies, staff at the association have been notified about possible layoffs coming as soon as Monday.
On the immediate chopping block is at least one program that provides service to about 150 people with disabilities, but is a consistent money-loser, said Executive Director Lynn O'Shea. Once gone, the people in that program have nowhere else to turn.
There already is a 100-person wait list for the agency's housing programs and an 850-person wait list for its developmental disability programs.
"It's almost hopeless," O'Shea said. "I understand the state needs to balance its budget, but let's pick something else that doesn't affect so many people."
The story is the same at the Gateway Foundation, Hope for Tomorrow, the Renz Center, the Ecker Center for Mental Health and Breaking Free, all agencies treating substance abuse.
If those agencies turn people away, the next stop for many is a hospital or a jail, said Gerald Jones, chairman of the Kane County Board's Public Health Committee.
The committee passed a resolution Tuesday calling on the state to restore the funds.
The cuts take effect Oct. 1, but the Illinois House of Representatives already has voted to restore the funding. A vote by the Illinois Senate is expected this week.