Matt Blunt Balances Budget on Backs of Families Making 200% or 250% of Poverty Line

Adoptive parents get word on cuts. We'll skip the anecdote that starts the story, telling us about how an adoptive parent will have to start serving ketchup soup to her adopted children and start sending them to school in shoes cobbled from tree bark; instead, we'll hit the numbers:

For years, the Kirgbaums and any other parent who adopts a child from foster care have been entitled to the monthly checks, as well as Medicaid services and help paying for day care. The payments are seen as an incentive to spur adoption, particularly of children with special needs.

But under the budget cuts, the payments will now go only to families earning less than 200 percent or 250 percent of the poverty level. The lower cutoff would amount to an income of about $38,700 for a family of four.

The means test is designed to control the program's cost, which has been adding hundreds of families a year. The cut is also designed to save the state $12 million this year, helping to fulfill Blunt's vow to balance the budget without tax increases.

We at DMB2008 laud the governor's efforts to hold the line on state spending. We understand that these tough times require tough decisions, not tax increases. Governor Blunt is not afraid to make the cuts.

The critics, however, want to have their cake and eat ours, too:

Critics say the cuts will backfire, potentially discouraging adoption and increasing what Missouri spends to keep kids in foster care. Some say the plan also violates federal regulations and breaks a promise made to parents at the time of adoption.

Critics of the critics, or at least some critics of the critics, might wonder why the state thinks that some families--that is, non-natural born ones--are more equal than others that they deserve an additional cash on the barrelhead monthly subsidy plus benefits. Or how the quality of upbringing the adopted children receive when they're a source of income and not something a family can integrate into their existing lifestyles and incomes. But those critics of the critics are hard-hearted, and some are hopeful that Matt Blunt becomes president in 2008.

Also, please note the tunnelvision of the critics, or some critics who hope to make contingency attorney's fees:

John Ammann, director of the St. Louis University Law Clinic, said he's reviewing the matter for adoption advocacy groups, but he expects a court battle.

"It's difficult for me to foresee any other option but litigation at this point," he said.

No other option. Well, when you're a screwdriver, every problem needs a screwing.

(Submitted to the Outside the Beltway Traffic Jam.)