Fremont group in Sacramento protest
FROM STAFF REPORTS

A group of Fremont advocates for children with special needs joined a protest at the state Capitol on Wednesday urging Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to spare in-home supportive services from budget cuts.

Members of Fremont-based Friends of Children with Special Needs joined the California Disability Community Action Network to testify in front of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services during its last public meeting this week.

The group hopes to convince lawmakers to restore funding to in-home services, which developmentally disabled citizens rely on for survival, members of the group say. The governor has said he would back off from his original proposal to eliminate some in-home services if federal funds could help pay for the program.

However, federal money cannot be guaranteed with the ongoing war in Iraq, said Anna Wang, director of Friends of Children with Special Needs.

"We believe that relying on an unknown and unreliable funding source from another government entity is too much a risk to take for the very lifeline of our most vulnerable citizens," the Fremont resident said in a statement.