The Children's Aid Society Endorses Critical Components of Governor Spitzer's Proposed 2008-2009 St...( NEW YORK Jan. 22 -- C. Warren Mo...),Health

NEW YORK, Jan. 22 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- C. Warren Moses, Chief Executive Officer of The Children's Aid Society, one of New York City's largest providers of children's and family services, enthusiastically endorses Governor Eliot Spitzer's proposed 2008-2009 budget.

"Governor Spitzer has made tough choices and come down on the side of poor children in this budget," states Moses. "While the economic climate in New York State worsens every day, the Governor's proposed budget makes wise decisions during this difficult time. The changes announced by the Governor this morning are changes that we strongly support," he said. "Clearly, the welfare of disadvantaged children has remained foremost in his mind, and we are pleased to see that the governmental tone and the pattern of investments are in the right place."

The Children's Aid Society enthusiastically supports these budget provisions:

1) Closing of severely underutilized facilities for the incarceration of juveniles, paving the way for smarter investments in community programs that reduce recidivism, length of incarceration, and the number of juveniles incarcerated, while correspondingly expanding community-based preventive and re-entry programs.

2) Expansion of eligibility of poor children for Child Health Plus. We are very enthusiastic about the expansion of Child Health Plus to 400% of the federal poverty level, so that 400,000 uninsured children in New York State will now be able to obtain health insurance coverage. We also applaud the addition of Medicaid reimbursement for social work services (therapy) for children, adolescents and those with pregnancy-related issues. In addition, we strongly support the expansion of Medicaid coverage for foster children and youth no longer in care to age 21.

3) Extension of the Human Services COLA for three years. We applaud extending this increase for another three years. We regret that this extension does not provide a C
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