SCRANTON — The Diocese of Scranton will be cutting services provided by Catholic Social Services starting at the end of the year, affecting Wilkes-Barre, Scranton and Milford.
The announcement comes from diocesan spokesperson, Eric Deabill in a release issued Friday afternoon.
According to Deabill’s release, Catholic Social Services will be discontinuing all drug and alcohol services in both Wilkes-Barre and Milford, effective on Dec. 31.
“While this was not an easy decision, we feel confident that other providers in the community, to whom we will refer clients, will be able to offer the same level of professional and compassionate services,” the release reads.
The decision to curtail the services comes after a financial review done by Catholic Social Services in the spring of this year. The organization says, like many other social service organizations, financial resources have grown thin in recent years, due in large part to a decrease in funding from federal, state and local governments.
Scranton will also see a loss of services from Catholic Social Services, as it will no longer be involved with the Community Correction Program. Catholic Social Services had been involved through contracts with both the state Department of Corrections and the federal Bureau of Prisons to help provide pre-release services to inmates being paroled or discharged.
However, neither contract will be renewed and are set to expire in 2020.
“Catholic Social Services remains committed to working with other community agencies that have interest in providing these services to the community,” the statement says.
