Assistance Needed
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The below posting is from the Advocacy Coordinator for the Advisory Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse & AK Mental Health Board. Please read it carefully, call me if you have questions, and write, call or email your legislator about this important part of funding that has been reduced.
Bring The Kids Home Initiative is in Jeopardy!
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| Take Action! |
| Urgent ! Send a message or call in for Public Testimony |
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The House Finance subcommittee overseeing the Health and Social Services budget has recommended cuts to the Governor’s proposed budget for the Bring the Kids Home (BTKH) Initiative by $825,000 (57%). The remaining $625,000 will not allow for BTKH project goals to be met in 2011.
Bring the Kids Home is a joint initiative by the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority and the State of Alaska to reduce the number of youth sent out-of-state to residential psychiatric treatment centers (RPTC). Two of the program’s goals include shifting the state’s cost for children’s mental health care to in-state expenditures and increasing treatment services as close to home as possible. BTKH has reduced by 85.4% the number of admissions to costly out-of-state RPTC since its inception in 2004.
Action is needed TODAY and NEXT WEEK to voice your concern about these reductions!
EMAIL OR CALL TODAY - Send an email, letter or make a phone call to the House Finance Committee members listed below announcing your support for the Governor’s numbers. Or click Take Action to send an instant message to House Finance members.
Representative Mike Hawker
rep.mike.hawker@legis.state.ak.us
Representative Bill Stoltze
rep.bill.stoltze@legis.state.ak.us
Representative Bill Thomas
rep.bill.thomas@legis.state.ak.us
Representative Alan Austerman
rep.alan.austerman@legis.state.ak.us
Representative Anna Fairclough
rep.anna.fairclough@legis.state.ak.us
Representative Neal Foster
representative_neal_foster@legis.state.ak.us
Representative Reggie Joule
rep.reggie.joule@legis.state.ak.us
Representative Mike Kelly
rep.mike.kelly@legis.state.ak.us
Representative Woodie Salmon
rep.woodie.salmon@legis.state.ak.us
Representative Mike Doogan
rep.mike.doogan@legis.state.ak.us
Representative Les Gara
rep.les.gara@legis.state.ak.us
Representative Mike Chenault
rep.mike.chenault@legis.state.ak.us
CALL IN FOR PUBLIC TESTIMONY - TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY, March 2 & 3 Call in and offer your personal story during the public testimony for the House Finance Committee. Go to: http://w3.legis.state.ak.us/misc/lios.php for details. Public Testimony limited to 2-minutes each. You must arrive 15 minutes before the end of the allotted time period or testimony will be closed. Please do not speak over your allotted time!
Tuesday, March 2
1:30 – 2:30 – Juneau
2:45 – 3:45 – Bethel, Kotzebue, Barrow, Nome, Delta Junction
4:00 – 5:15 – Anchorage
Wednesday, March 3
1:30 – 2:45 – Fairbanks
3:00 – 4:00 – Sitka, Wrangell, Petersburg, Dillingham, Cordova
4:15 – 5:00 – Homer, Kenai, Valdez, Ketchikan, Kodiak, Seward, Mat Su, Glennallen, Tok
TALKING POINTS
- Tell your personal story about how you’ve been affected by programs related to Bring the Kids Home.
- Ask the question: "Why is the subcommittee recommending cuts to this successful, effective, and cost-saving program?"
- Bring the Kids Home saves the state money because out-of-state placements are more expensive that in-state care.
- Bring the Kids Home is successful because it has reduced the number of out-of-state placements by 85.4% (from 752 to under 150).
- Bring the Kids Home is helping families work together to solve their problems.
- Providers are serving kids at home instead of sending them off to Texas and Utah.
- Bring the Kids Home has created jobs in Alaska.
- Recidivism rate has dropped for in-state funded residential treatment from 20% in 2004 to 3.4% in 2009.
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