State Budget Cuts Could Split Local Families

RIVERSIDE – Families in the Coachella Valley are waiting to see if the Governor reaches a budget compromise with state lawmakers. They say it could mean the difference in whether they can feed their children.

News Channel 3 talked to homecare providers protesting the budget stalemate. Filling a bus, members of the Homecare Providers Union arrived from the Desert to protest in Riverside.

Most are parents of disabled children. They often quit their jobs to take on the full-time job of caring for their children’s needs.

Robert Quintero of Desert Hot Springs cares for his disabled daughter. The state used to pay him $11.50 an hour.

Quintero says, “They try to lower it to $9.50. That’s not very good.”

When asked if he could feed his family on that salary, Quintero replies, “No. Not with that money.”

Cheering on their fellow homecare providers, they came in numbers to the Riverside County Board of Supervisors meeting.

A march to the Governor’s Riverside office got cancelled. They came to the county meeting because it was the only place they knew to vent their anger.

Ricardo Cisneros of the United Domestic Workers union says, “A lot of these clients will end up in institutions and nursing homes. Which will cost the state 6 times more than what they’re paying these home care providers now. So, it does not make sense to make these cuts.”

Francy Honda cares for her son, Nathan. He has Weaver’s Syndrome. It acts like autism.

“I had to leave my work to stay at home with him,” says Honda. “It’s made a huge difference for our family, for all of us. To have to suddenly know the funds won’t be there for us… I don’t want to put him in an institution.”