2010 has been a difficult year for budget makers in Vermont. While every department in State government has been pressured by the Administration to adopt it's "Challenges For Change" plan, it is becoming very clear the burden for State budget shortfalls is increasingly being born by those least able bear it - children with severe emotional/ behavioral issues and learning difficulties.

For the Agency of Human Services this demand for savings is reflected in a directive from State officials that some $38 Million dollars must be trimmed from the 2011 operating budget. For the Vermont Department of Education the figures are even more grim with an unresolved 33% disparity between available funds and those actually required to meet the education needs of Vermont children. Beleaguered State officials have scrambled to find ways to cut costs and still provide Vermonter's with essential mental health and special education services. But, as so often happens in panic situations, our State officials and elected representatives have seemingly made the decision to derive short term savings by implementing cuts that will ultimately result in long term cost increases.

The findings of a 2010 report released by the independent think tank The Justice Policy Institute, "Money Well Spent: How positive social investments will reduce incarceration rates," finds that even as crime rates have dropped nation-wide, there is a significant increase in the populations of individuals incarcerated with mental illness and/or drug addiction issues. Due to the prolonged economic meltdown, many states are now making drastic cuts in funding for social services - such as health, education, and public housing. There are nearly two million people behind bars in the U.S., mostly the poor, making the United States the number one country in the world in terms of the imprisonment rate. To put this in simplest terms, it will always cost far less to educate and treat a child, than it will cost to incarcerate an adult.

Sadly, the result of this short-sighted approach is that our future, our children, will be sacrificed. Unable to access the needed mental health and special education services these children may be doomed to a life of poverty, illiteracy and despair.

Vermont's carefully crafted out-of-home system of care is now in significant jeopardy. Funding for dozens of residential treatment beds have been lost in the past couple of years. In addition, independent schools that educate children identified as unable to succeed in the public school system are closing.

The State's rationale for this dramatic shift is that high-needs children can now remain with their families and attend public schools because DCF, DMH and DOE are working with community-based mental health agencies and other nonprofits to provide supports and services at the local community level. That's fine in theory, but in reality these community based organizations have also taken significant financial cuts. The State also maintains that in the past three years, the number of children in Vermont receiving out-of-home care has dropped from 1,400 to 1,000. The question is, can this be a true measure of success? Or, are these children falling through the cracks? These children may no longer be in State custody, but is there evidence that the recent changes have resulted in increased well-being for these high-needs children? A child trapped in an impoverished/abusive environment because of a lack of funding might disagree that they are in fact, better off.

The available evidence that this new policy works is anything but encouraging. The state's largest provider of care for homeless youth, reports a 30 percent increase over the past year in the number of homeless youth residing in its shelter, and a 91 percent increase in the number of times they had to turn a homeless youth away due to lack of beds. During the same period, The First Call program and Chittenden County's Children's Crisis Team, experienced an astounding increase in contacts over the past year to more than 16,000.

Brookhaven Treatment and Learning Center has been providing out-of-home care for almost 60 years. Our comprehensive residential treatment program is designed specifically for boys whose difficulties have become so severe that removal from the home is essential to the treatment process. Our Learning Center, a state licensed independent school, provides a therapeutically oriented academic curriculum for our residents, as well as day students from the community.

Yet, despite the profound need, we have open desks and empty beds. There is simply no money. The question is, what do we do? How do we address this systemic failure?

Brookhaven Treatment and Learning Center has taken the lead in spear-heading a community-based effort to address this problem. Our answer is the Brookhaven Initiative. The Brookhaven Initiative is a scholarship fund that will provide full and partial scholarships for Vermont's children to access all of our services. These include our independent school, residential treatment program, family retreat and our therapeutic summer camp.

To learn more about Brookhaven Treatment and Learning Center and the Brookhaven Initiative visit our websites at www.brookhaventlc.org.