* More casualties of the governor’s decision to slash most state funding from the child care assistance program…

Because of stricter guidelines for the state’s Child Care Assistance Program, fewer people qualify to receive subsidies. The effect, local domestic violence and homeless advocates say, is that the women they serve could have a harder time getting out of temporary shelter or away from abusive situations and on to independent living.

“These subsidies allow people to get out into the community,” said [Sue] Morrissey, the vice president of program services for Home of the Sparrow. “If these supports aren’t there … how this benefits anyone, we don’t get it.”[…]

Child care and financial stability are paramount to many women trying to leave an abusive relationship, she said, as they seek to escape domestic violence.

“Say she comes in and she needs to work so she can become independent and support her children, and finds she is ineligible for the subsidy,” Zamudio said. “She may even choose to return to her abuser because she can’t do it.”

The changes are projected to save the state $47 million annually on background checks and copays, and $5.3 million a month by freezing intakes. […]

At Home of the Sparrow, where about 30 percent of the clients do not have a domestic violence history, Morrissey said women are required to get a job within 10 weeks of coming into the shelter. While there, officials can provide them with assistance for day care, although the funds the organization has to support day care are disappearing quickly.

…Adding… From comments…

“I think we can drive a wedge issue in the Democratic Party on that topic and bring the folks who say, ‘You know what? For our tax dollars, I’d rather help the disadvantaged, the handicapped, the elderly, the children in poverty. I’d rather have my tax dollars going to that than the SEIU or Af-scammy (AFSCME)” — Bruce Rauner, September 18, 2012.

Don’t you see? These domestic violence victims — these women and children? They’re just wedges.