The State of Illinois budget crisis has forced Catholic Charities to make painful program and staffing reductions that are expected to adversely affect thousands of children, youths and adults across central Illinois.

“It is with a heavy heart and extreme concern that today at Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Peoria we announce the beginning of plans to suspend or eliminate several critical Department of Human Services-funded programs for children, youth and families in our central Illinois communities,” said Bishop Daniel Jenky, CSC, in a statement Monday.

Bishop Jenky, who serves as chairman of the board of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Peoria, made the announcement one day before the Illinois General Assembly in Springfield returned to session to try again to craft a balanced budget.

State legislators and Gov. Pat Quinn face the challenge of a multi-billion dollar deficit. Meanwhile, a federal judge decreed that the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services must maintain programs that face the budget axe.

Reports as The Catholic Post went to press on Wednesday indicated progress was being made toward a compromise on the budget.

Bishop Jenky’s statement said that more than 6,000 Catholic Charities clients are losing services that “provide critical support to families in crisis to stabilize them to prevent family disruption, delinquency, abuse and neglect, and institutional care.”

The program cuts represent an $800,000 reduction in state funding, which in turn will affect the jobs of more than 50 Catholic Charities staff members, according to Tim Glancy, Catholic Charities’ Bloomington branch office manager.

Those staff either will lose their jobs or have their work hours cut back, the statement said.

Programs to be eliminated are Community Youth Services, Unified Delinquency Intervention Services, Redeploy Illinois, and the Fatherhood Program.

Meanwhile, Comprehensive Community-Based Youth Services, commonly called Crisis Intervention, will have a 27 percent cut in funding.

All are administered through the Illinois Department of Human Services except the Fatherhood Program, which is a program of the Department of Children and Family Services, Glancy said.