"Every time a social worker leaves, we cannot hire behind him or her. You can just imagine what that does, putting pressure on us," Riley said.
"We're doing everything we can to make sure we can still meet the demand, but I have to tell you it's going to be very difficult to do that."
Among the programs in jeopardy are family resource centers, through which social workers identify and assist troubled families to prevent child abuse and domestic violence before it starts, Riley said.
"It's a significant help to us keeping families together and out of our system," he said. "Those programs come under pressure because they're not mandates" from the state or federal government.
Wilson said the Health Care Agency has not yet decided how to achieve Mauk's requested cutbacks, but medical care for the indigent does not appear in jeopardy because of state and federal funding.
Orange County has no public hospital. Instead, the county reimburses private hospitals that treat the poor.
The future of community healthcare clinics is less certain.
"We have a couple of clinics and provide funding for a number of community clinics," Wilson said. "They could be impacted."
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stuart.pfeifer@latimes.com
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Times staff writers David Kelly and Garret Therolf contributed to this report.
