The Budget cuts will hurt

Some weeks after Parliament approved the Budget for 2012, the European Commission asked the government to revise its Budget by €40 million because it had doubts about the figures submitted by the Minister of Finance and how the targets would be met.

... family matters should be on top of (the government’s) agenda even when it comes to spending- Carmelo Abela

The minister, on behalf of the government, tried to say that this was a non event and when pressed harder he stated that the cut would not affect social expenses.

I tabled a parliamentary question and the Minister for the Family replied that about €1.4 million will be cut from a number of allocations, mostly those dealing with social cases, including €715,000 from Appoġġ, Sedqa and Support.

The main trust of Appoġġ is children. To reach out to children, the agency has to work with families in crisis. Such crises come in all shapes and forms, ranging from neglect in terms of children not having a family structure, missing school, not eating or eating inappropriately and left unsupervised for long stretches of time to more serious situations of violence in the home and physical and sexual abuse.

Social workers receive reports from neighbours, schools and, sometimes, even family members about the situation. At this point, the social workers are faced with a choice of rating the seriousness of the case. This is always a dilemma as all reports are serious but, because of shortage of social workers, the reports are classified and some are left on the waiting list.

Social workers will tell you that the principle of a stitch in time saves nine is applicable to such social work interventions. Early warning and early intervention not only avoid the escalation of an already serious situation but provide the assistance needed to correct things and mend ways for healthy living and learning to make better choices. This is ethically and socially correct and it makes financial sense.

Early intervention is sharp, focused and timely, which is effective in terms of time and cost. Acute interventions not only require longer assistance time but often demand the intervention of other professionals such as those in the child protection, family therapy and psychological services.

Appoġġ not only requires the critical mass of professionals but constant evaluation of its services to ensure that it is responding to the changing needs of the people.

Budgets have also been reduced for Seqda. This agency plays an important function in the education of young people against addictions as well as providing treatment and rehabilitation services for those who want to kick the addiction.

Funds are needed to upgrade the educational material and to produce new aids together with bringing on line prevention programmes that reflect current attitudes and perceptions of young people.

These needs are felt by all in the sector and, unless this improvement is done, one would risk rendering the effort meaningless and ineffective.

The community services for persons with addiction problems are considerable as more individuals opt for community-based support than long-term rehabilitation programmes. The investment that goes in the treatment of addicted individuals may go down the drain unless this is backed up by community services to consolidate the initial change in behaviour brought about by medical treatment.

Community-based programmes are seriously lacking in resources intended to support young people at risk of delinquency.

The community of disabled individuals and their families have very good reasons to be concerned. There have been so many broken promises that many in the sector would tell you that they are still facing the same challenges of 30 years ago. They feel frustrated because while, on one hand, the government keeps announcing schemes and programmes and setting up structures, people with disabilities still find themselves struggling with bureaucracy and placed on waiting lists for the basic daily needs.

People with disabilities need basic support to wake up in the morning and attend to their daily chores. Disabled individuals face serious challenges to get to work, find jobs and receive career guidance to find and retain rewarding employment.

We are still facing situations where adults cannot go out of their homes because there is no support in the community, individuals registering for work with the ETC for years on end due to their disability while others worry that one day they will end up in an institution when their family support is no longer there.

These are basic needs, some fundamental human rights that many of us take for granted but disabled individuals have to struggle with on a daily basis. Cutting funding to Sapport is a slap in the face to people with disabilities and a negation of basic rights to self determination, independence and participation in social life.

Cutting funding to social welfare agencies is cutting the lifeline that often makes the difference between living with dignity and living in poverty. These cuts will throw more people into poverty and hardship at a time when the percentage of people at risk of poverty increased. This measure will make a bad situation even worse. The NGOs are also marked for reductions in budgets and this is equally serious because these reach out to groups where the larger state-funded agencies do not.

NGOs are already in dire straits and the announcement of funding cuts to them is demoralising to those who give generously and bad news for those who depend on this generosity. Such NGOs support individuals in the community with mental health problems, disabilities and the elderly.

The government should revert to its promise and not cut their budgets, which will impact directly on those who are most in need. The government should have its priorities right and family matters should be on top of its agenda even when it comes to spending.

Mr Abela, a member of Parliament, is Labour’s main spokesman on social policy.