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CARES Institute warns state appropriation cuts will force clinic closure and staff reductions
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Summary
The CARES Institute told the Assembly Health Committee that proposed state budget cuts totaling $2.7 million would force it to close its Cumberland County clinic, terminate more than 30% of staff and reduce services for abused and neglected children in southern New Jersey.
Dr. Rachel Silliman Cohen, director of the CARES Institute and a child‑abuse pediatrician, told the Assembly Health Committee that the governor’s proposed budget would reduce CARES’s state appropriation by $1,850,000 in the coming fiscal year, on top of an $850,000 cut in the current year, for a total reduction of $2,700,000. She said that loss would prevent CARES from meeting its statutory regional diagnostic and treatment responsibilities for abused and neglected children in southern New Jersey.
CARES provides specialized medical and mental‑health care to children who have experienced trauma, and it runs the Comprehensive Health Evaluation for Children (CHEC) program for children in foster care. Dr. Silliman Cohen said CARES serves more than 1,500 children annually in the region and that nearly all of the almost 3,000 children in foster care across New Jersey rely on Medicaid to meet their health needs.
“Without this, CARES cannot meet our legislative mandate,” she told the committee, adding that the cuts would require closing the Cumberland County clinic and cutting over 30% of CARES’s workforce. Kevin Lyden, CARES director of administration, reiterated the operational impacts and asked the committee for partnership in restoring the appropriation while also preparing for potential federal Medicaid changes.
No committee action was taken at the hearing; CARES asked the committee to restore its funding in upcoming budget deliberations and to consider the institute a continuing resource on child maltreatment and foster‑care health services.
