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State budget cuts threaten to end a family counseling service located in District Heights, and the city's social services officials are fighting to keep it alive.

The state's Department of Juvenile Services will end its contract Dec. 31 to fund the Children in Need of Supervision Program, also known as CINS, at the District Heights Family and Youth Services Center at 2000 Marbury Drive. The state funding is the only source of financing for the program, which is open to all county residents.

CINS, a counseling and referral service, began in April 2008 in District Heights as a way to prevent troubled youths from entering the juvenile justice system, said Priscilla Souto, executive director of the District Heights Family and Youth Services Center.

"The [state] Department of Juvenile Services is interested in continuing the CINS program, but unfortunately, in these tough economic times, they had to make some cuts," Souto said.

The CINS program at District Heights is the only one in Prince George's County, Souto said. Other counties with CINS programs include Baltimore, Calvert, Charles, Hartford, St. Mary's, Somerset and Washington counties, according to the state's Department of Juvenile Services Web site. Tammy Brown, state Department of Juvenile Services chief of staff, said the Hartford County program was also losing state funding.

CINS counseling focuses on "brief strategic therapy," where certified counselors include the whole family in the counseling process instead of having a one-on-one session with a counselor and a youth, Souto said.

A total of $3.1 million was cut from the state's fiscal 2010 Department of Juvenile Services budget in July and another $3.8 million was cut in August, for a total of $6.9 million, Brown wrote in an Oct. 22 e-mail to The Gazette. From July to August, the total budget dropped from more than $262 million to $255 million, Brown wrote.

During fiscal 2009, 195 youths and their families received services from CINS, Souto said. Forty-seven of those families received family counseling and 101 received crisis intervention counseling in emergency situations, such as a child running away from home. Between July 1, the start of fiscal 2010, and Sept. 30, there have been 19 youths and families in family counseling, and 32 receiving crisis intervention counseling.

During the first year of CINS, 86 percent of the youths who received services did not go any further into the juvenile justice system, Souto said.

Money will be officially cut off Dec. 31, and Souto is searching for federal funding and partnerships with other organizations before the end of fiscal 2010, which ends June 30. The City of District Heights government is helping to keep the program alive until the end of fiscal 2010, but there is a possibility the program could end after June 30 if the city's Family and Youth Services center cannot find alternative funding, therapist Sara Tuke said.

"I would say that this is one of our core programs at District Heights Family and Youth Services Center, because it's evidence-based and it serves the entire Prince George's County area," Souto said. "It's extremely crucial to the community."

The Hamlets, one of the families that has participated in the program, started family counseling after Sharon Hamlet, 51, of District Heights became concerned about her nephew Marcus, 15, skipping class at Dr. Henry J. Wise High School in Upper Marlboro.

"I felt that now it's becoming challenging because he's a typical 15-year-old who has curiosities and he's starting to explore some challenges amongst his peers," said Sharon Hamlet, who has custody of Marcus. "I thought we would do well to get counseling."

Both have attended five weekly sessions since mid-September and, though she said it has been a short time, Sharon Hamlet said believes Marcus is more comfortable opening up with a mediator there.

Marcus Hamlet agreed.

"I look back at what I did wrong and what I did right," he said. "I look back on how I could've done differently."

Sessions can last eight to 20 weeks, until the mediator believes the family has reached its own goals in communicating effectively, Sharon Hamlet said.

Sharon Hamlet said she has taken Marcus to one-on-one counseling sessions in the past, but said she prefers family counseling because the dialogue offers a chance to see what's going on inside his head and for him to see how his actions affect her emotions.

She said a permanent loss of the program would be particularly devastating to the black community, which she feels traditionally does not seek counseling and instead chooses to bottle emotions or self-medicate with drugs or alcohol.

"Family counseling services are necessary," Sharon Hamlet said. "It's frowned on by many, but for those of use who utilize it, we see the good it does."

E-mail Natalie McGill at nmcgill@gazette.net.