Every few months, Jim Schmitt and his wife take their 14-year-old twin sons to a state-run respite center in Putnam for the weekend. He calls it a saving grace: It's the only time he and his wife spend together without their boys, who have autism and do not speak.
"You love your kids to death, but you wait for those weekends to be able to get away," Schmitt said.
Schmitt's sons were scheduled to go to the respite center Sept. 8, and he and his wife were thinking about taking a trip to Maine. But officials are planning to shut down the state's 10 respite centers by Sept. 5, part of a plan to cut $1.6 billion from the state budget. Closing the respite centers, which serve 1,100 families a year, is projected to save the state just under $8 million over two years.
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