Over the past four years, Arizona lawmakers faced with huge budget deficits have balanced the state's budget in part by cutting more than $300 million from programs that help struggling families before they reach the point where they abandon, abuse or neglect their children. Studies show many of the programs cut since 2008 work to improve parenting, strengthen families and reduce the incidence of child abuse and neglect, often by helping parents to provide safe, nurturing, stable homes.
For many families, help paying for food and utilities or finding substance-abuse treatment can provide the stability they need to stay afloat. But families in severe cases, such as Fulbright's, need a myriad of services -- like job training, housing and child care -- to become self-sufficient. The loss of a job and a late custody payment started Fulbright on a downward spiral, a situation many families that live paycheck to paycheck face.Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2012/02/26/20120226cps-arizona-cuts-strain-families.html#ixzz1nbE8Cyj8
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