Maryland Governor Ehrlich Unveils Children’s Initiative

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Maryland Governor Ehrlich Unveils Children’s Initiative

Foster Care, Child Welfare, Day Care Training Academy Important Priorities

January 24, 2005 -- ANNAPOLIS – Governor Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr., today highlighted his 2005 Children’s Initiative to improve quality of life for children across Maryland. The Governor’s initiative will improve an array of government services to ensure that Maryland’s most vulnerable children receive the care they need to succeed in life.“As a proud father of two, I know that Maryland’s children are our most important asset,” said Governor Ehrlich. “My administration is serious about providing the tools needed to help our most vulnerable children grow up safe and succeed in life. From foster care to school construction, we are making significant new investments in the health, well-being and safety of our children.”

Governor Ehrlich's Children Initiative includes:

Education: Governor Ehrlich’s record $423 million increase in funding for K-12 public education. The Governor’s budget includes a $5.1 billion total K-12 public education funding plan, the highest in history. Governor Ehrlich’s budget also includes $155 million in school construction funding, which is a substantial 55% increase over last year to fund the renovation of current schools and the construction of new ones.

Improving Juvenile Services: The Governor announced a $5.2 million increase in funds to expand effective community placement of children and reduce residential commitments. Governor Ehrlich also announced the expansion of services to high-risk youth discharged from a juvenile services treatment program and to promote safe and successful transition back into the community.

Foster Care: Governor Ehrlich includes a $44 million increase in his budget to improve the foster care program and allow for better outcomes for Maryland’s children. The Governor also includes $1 million to increase access to healthier family foster care environments for foster children.

Daycare for more children: The Governor is investing $103 million to assist qualified individuals in the purchase of child care. The Governor’s investment will make possible the placement of 2,400 more children in safe, quality child care.

Child Welfare: Governor Ehrlich has committed $1.4 million in his new budget to hire new child support caseworkers. The new funding will ensure that caseworkers can spend more time with each child and their case to ensure they are receiving the care and services they need. In addition, the Governor’s budget will include $1.7 million for a new training academy to better train child welfare caseworkers. This training academy will help protect abused and neglected children by improving the professional skills of Maryland’s more than 2,000 child welfare workers.

Better Technology: Governor Ehrlich is investing $10 million to launch “CHESSIE,” a state-of-the-art child welfare technology program. CHESSIE, which began limited operation this month in certain counties, will handle all aspects child welfare case management – intake, investigation, case management and financial accounting. CHESSIE will help caseworkers serve children by improving workflow and reducing paperwork and allowing caseworkers to spend more time working directly with children and families. “CHESSIE” stands for Children’s Electronic Social Services Information Exchange.

The Maryland Opportunity Compact: The Ehrlich Administration provides $2 million in State “good faith” seed funding to leverage private investments in a new public-private partnership to develop innovative prevention and early intervention programs.

Launching the “Wraparound” Initiative: Comprehensive, community-based services provided to severely emotionally disturbed children from all agencies, treating the child and family’s complete array of destabilizing problems based upon their individual needs. The State will shift away from the crisis-driven, costly over-reliance on residential treatment facility commitments to greater emphasis on crisis-prevention. Supported by $1 million in new training and transition funding for demonstration projects in Montgomery County and Baltimore City.

Reorganizing Governor’s Office for Children, Youth and Families: The office will focus on interagency policy and collaboration on prevention, intervention and treatment programs for children and families. The restructured office will work to identify gaps in services and place special attention on children with intensive needs that can only be met through coordination across agency lines.