Local opinion: Medicaid cuts would put Tucson lifeline for families at risk

For thousands of families across the Tucson area, Casa de Los Niños is a lifeline. On any given day, you might see our staff offering 1:1 therapy to a teenager with suicidal thoughts, supporting a visitation session for a parent seeking to regain custody of their toddler from foster care, or facilitating a parenting skills session for new fathers. Last year, we served over 8,000 children and 200 families. We provide a wide range of programs and services, all aimed at building resiliency and helping families prevent, manage, and overcome crises. People across Southern Arizona know us for our 50-year history of supporting families and children and our deep roots in the Tucson community.

But right now, federal funding cuts threaten to undermine our essential services, directly impacting vulnerable children and their families. One of the most significant risks comes from potential cuts to Medicaid.

Medicaid, which is known as AHCCCS in Arizona, is the primary funding source for group and individual therapy and other behavioral health services at Casa de los Niños. But Congress is currently considering a budget proposal that would slash as much as $880 billion over ten years from Medicaid funding nationwide. If that plan goes forward, as many as 8,000 of our clients could face disruptions. This would mean gaps in treatment, delays in medication management, and a loss of crisis intervention services — all outcomes with significant long-term consequences for children dealing with trauma, anxiety, depression, and other serious mental health challenges.

At an organizational level, cuts to Medicaid would force us to scale back services, reduce staff, and limit the number of children who can receive care. Rates of depression and other mental illnesses among youth continue to trend at alarmingly high rates, and Casa de los Niños struggles to meet the demand for our services as it is. The prospect of turning away even more families and children in need is heartbreaking. With public schools having cut funding for counselors and social workers, many of the young people we serve simply have nowhere else to go. Cuts to Medicare would also have ripple effects on school systems, particularly those that rely on Medicaid billing to support school-based health services. Many schools use these funds to help cover the cost of mental health professionals, nurses, and other critical supports. If those resources disappear, children will lose access to care in the very places they spend most of their time — further deepening the crisis and increasing the burden on community-based providers like us.

Cutting funding for behavioral health is deeply short-sighted. Without consistent access to behavioral health care, children are at greater risk for hospitalization, involvement in the juvenile justice system, and academic struggles, ultimately creating higher costs for the community in the long run. Investing in behavioral health services through sustained federal funding is not only a moral obligation but also a sound economic decision that prevents more costly interventions down the road.

The continuation of these services is essential for fostering healthy childhood development and long-term community well-being. As board members at Casa de los Niños, and on behalf of all the families that we serve, we urge Arizona’s elected officials to do the right thing and prioritize children, families, and our community—starting with a no vote on any proposed cuts to Medicaid.