Lifeworks fights for money to help kids

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Thousands of dollars now helping local families in crisis could disappear.

The Austin nonprofit organization Lifeworks says money for a state-funded program called STAR is in jeopardy. The acronym stands for "Services to At-Risk Youth." Lifeworks is the only provider of STAR in Travis County.

Lifeworks executive director Susan McDowell says the best way to describe the STAR program is to listen to the success stories. A mother and her 5-year-old son come to mind.

"All the sudden the teacher kept tagging him as a behavioral problem," said McDowell. "She took him to the doctor, everything was fine, she was uninsured so she couldn't seek out a private counselor."

They were referred to Lifeworks for free counseling.

"We start seeing the child who is so sweet but clearly struggling, so we bring mom in for some counseling, find out she was in a violent relationship."

McDowell says the boy and his mom are now doing much better and are stronger than ever.

The family is just one of 1,100 that Lifeworks helped last year. One third of their referrals come from local schools. They used $500,000 from the state to cover the counseling for about 600 of those families. The rest of the money comes from private donors and local government funding.

The organization is now worried state lawmakers will divert money from a major funding source -- the Department of Family and Protective Services -- to the Juvenile Justice Department.

"The reason is they want to clarify the rule for prevention work with the two agencies. Have juvenile justice focus on delinquency prevention. Have the Department of Family and Protective Services focus on child abuse prevention, but the reality is the two issues are so intermingled," said McDowell. "To split the two would actually create more bureaucracy, more administrative redundancy."

She says the successful prevention program helps keep children out of the foster care system and juvenile justice system.

Lifeworks plans to fight for Travis County families at the State Capitol. The DFPS will be right beside them.

Monday, a DFPS spokesperson said they think the program is "great" and are asking lawmakers for an extra $6 million for STAR which would help pay for six more employees to help reach 837 more Texas kids in 2014.