Disabled Oklahomans could lose daycare if DHS can't get supplemental funding
OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — Staff at the Oklahoma Foundation for the Disabled are on pins and needles waiting for the new Oklahoma legislative session to begin.
Lawmakers will have to consider whether they can give supplemental funding to the Department of Human Services, otherwise the disabled adults who depend on state money to attend the Foundation's daycare program, could lose that opportunity.
"Our staff is extremely nervous, because, you know, if we lose clients then we're going to have to lay off people and they all have families," executive director Georgia Devening said.
They're also worried about the clients.
"They won't have any place to go. Some of our people have been with us for 28-years and so this is their home. This is where they come every day," Devening said.
Right now, the Foundation has 26 adults in daycare who use DHS Aging and Developmental Disabilities Medicaid waiver programs. Without the program, it would cost $60 a day to attend. Devening said their parents cannot afford that kind of money and most still work every day.
The problem
Last year, when the state lost more than a billion dollars, every agency's budget was slashed.
DHS Director Ed Lake, had a pre-session meeting with lawmakers, explaining DHS needs an extra $42 million just to keep going, as is, through the end of this budget year. The budget year goes through June. Lake said DHS only has enough to go through March.
Most of the supplemental money Lake requested would fund Aging and Developmental Disabilities.
"We should take care of the elderly and the disabled, they can't take care of themselves," Devening said. "They're kind of forgotten. They're kind of the last thing people think about."
"They all know each other, they care about each other, they learn where my office is and if they have a question, they say, 'I have to go see Lola," Lola Busler said. "And they are my life."
Busler handles social services for the Foundation.
Busler said, more than just becoming a place for clients to make friends, they learn a routine and skills that have helped many become more social or drop behavioral issues.
"So to see these improvements, lets us know, at the end of the day, we've done our job," she said.
Want to help?
Devening said, while they wait to see what lawmakers can decided, their only hope to keep their clients in daycare, is to raise $50,000 in private donations. If they can reach that goal, a foundation in Texas will award the Foundation with a $50,000 matching grant.
But, Devening, said the same economy hurting the state budget, is dropping the number of donations they receive.
The Foundation also gets money from Bargain Thrift. Every year, the store donates parts of its proceeds.