Funds Earmarked for Abused Children

A Pasadena-based program that strives to keep abused children with their parents rather than placing them in foster homes will continue to operate for another year, thanks to additional funding included in the 1989-90 budget approved by Gov. George Deukmejian last week.

Hillsides Home for Children is one of eight nonprofit agencies in California that will receive a total of $1.2 million during fiscal 1989-90 to hire professional therapists to make regular visits to the homes of abused children. The pilot programs were started in 1984, and preliminary reports show they are 75% successful in keeping families together.

Hillsides’ In-Home Critical Care program treats 100 San Gabriel Valley families each year. Its staff includes four full-time therapists, one part-time social worker and one full-time project director. The program operates on a $200,000 annual budget, 75% of which is provided by the state.

“We were delighted because if the governor did not extend the projects they would have died out,” said Steve Madison, president of the Board of Directors of the California Consortium of Child Abuse Councils, which lobbied the governor in support of the programs.