Proposed budget may cut all funding to Children?s Advocacy Centers in Arizona

Representatives of Children's Advocacy Centers in Arizona and across the country are urging members of Congress not to accept the cuts that are proposed in the administration's 2014 budget.

They would drop federal funding for CAC's and related programs from $18 million to zero. The centers are where victims of child sex abuse receive coordinated medical, mental health and legal services. Teresa Huizar is executive director of the Children's Alliance and says this battle should not need to be fought every year.

“When you think about the fact that child sexual abuse affects roughly 20 percent of the female population of this country, and about one-in-eight men or boys, I think there are lots of people who have a reason to care about this issue and advocate on our behalf,” Huizar said.

Young children are more likely to die of child abuse or neglect in metro Phoenix than in any major metropolitan area in the country.  Statewide, there have been 42,000 reports of abuse and neglect in the past year.