NASHVILLE - The threat of losing federal funding has parents of children who are intellectually and developmentally challenged fearful that further cuts will threaten what little support they now have.

Tennessee lawmakers have cut more than $47 million from IDD programs this year, and additional cuts will be on the table when the new legislative session begins in January.

Carrie Guiden, executive director of The Arc Tennessee, said a lack of public support creates a burden that often falls on parents.

The Arc Tennessee is a grassroots, nonprofit, statewide organization on intellectual and developmental disabilities, which monitors statewide programs and represents families who benefit from specialized programs. She said the organization has found teens who leave school programs that help them develop important skills often face additional hurdles.

"They lose the skills they had when they were in school," Guiden said. "Parents often have to quit work to stay at home with their son or daughter. They're becoming dependent on the system, and the more skills that child loses, the older they get, the more services they'll need if they ever become eligible. Or, when they go into crisis, you're looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars sometimes, to support that person - where, if they would have gotten the support right out of school, it may have been $10,000 a year."

Scotty Kimbrough, a Tennessee father of a developmentally challenged daughter, said he has worked all his life and doesn't want anything given to him. He says his health is not great, however, and since the loss of his wife, he is now more fearful about his daughter's care.

"She's going to outlive me," Kimbrough said. "Something's got to be set up for, not just her, but folks like her, where they can be taken care of and they're not turned loose. There's no way that she could live out on her own. I worry about that every day, you know. If something happened to me, where would she go?"

Guiden said lawmakers are not looking at the long-term consequences. She said more attention must be given to controlling costs and spending money efficiently to ensure adequate coverage for all Tennesseans.