BLOOMINGTON - Homeless families concerned about their children and young women transitioning to independent living are among those people who will lose help from programs closing this month.

The Family Services Initiative operated by The Baby Fold and the Transitional Living Program at the Children's Foundation are being cut in June because of rising costs, reduced state funding and changing needs, officials said.

Family Services Initiative has worked with close to 500 families over the last eight years. It helped families deal with children's issues before they escalated to the point where the Department of Family and Children's Services became involved, said Karen Major, director of family and community services for The Baby Fold, Normal.

It helped people who are homeless or unemployed or lacked transportation, enough money to pay first month's rent or job or parenting skills.

State funding will stop June 30.

"Unfortunately there aren't other resources in the community (to keep the program going)," Major said.

It ends at a time when increasing numbers of people need it, she said.

The "unique program" has a track record of helping people before they get into a higher risk situation, Major said, adding that it has a success rate or about 90 percent.

The state has decided to redirect its funding to programs for families with higher needs, she said.

She said she fears that she'll see people who didn't get services early end up needing more serious help later.

A kinder fate is in store for two other Baby Fold programs.

Federal funding is to be cut for both the Second Chance Renters and the

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Life Skills programs.

Mid Central Community Action, which provides similar services, is stepping in to keep those programs going for one more year, Major said.

Unfortunately there isn't another agency that can do the same for the Family Services Initiative, said Dale Strassheim, Baby Fold's chief executive officer.

The Baby Fold's own fundraising efforts can't replace state funding, he said.

Three staff members affected will continue to work in other Baby Fold programs. The agency continues to operate 18 programs.

Transitional living

For the last decade, the Transitional Living Program at the Children's Foundation in Bloomington has offered housing and services for teenage girls moving from the state Department of Corrections, group homes or other facilities toward independent living.

The program will end June 13, leaving empty the house on the Children's Foundation campus at 403 S. State St., said Lisa Pieper, vice president of the Children's Foundation.

Currently, only three teens from the Chicago area live in the transitional house, and they will be reassigned to housing elsewhere in the state, Pieper said.

It was no longer cost-effective to use resources for this program, she said.

"We're revising the program to make it more relevant," she said.

The house was being operated at a loss because of state funding changes and increased costs.

"We had to do something," said Pete Borowski, chairman of the regional advisory board of Children's Home and Aid Foundation, which oversees the Children's Foundation.

Borowski said the board will look at the proposals for the home at a meeting June 18, five days after the program ends.

Among options being considered is a home for pregnant teenagers and perhaps new mothers.

"There are other options on the table," Pieper said.

Six staff members are affected. There are some positions open locally and some with the agency across the state, and one staff member is considering being a full-time foster parent, Pieper said.