What We Need in NYS Early Intervention, Mr. Governor

Dear Governor Andrew Cuomo:

        MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN NYS EARLY INTERVENTION IN HONOR OF YOUR FATHER.  On September 17, 1992, your father, Governor Mario Cuomo signed the Early Intervention Bill (Chapter 428 of the Laws of 1992). This landmark legislation required localities to offer early intervention services to infants and toddlers with developmental disabilities or delays.
         As you know, the New York State Department of Health coordinates the statewide network of services for Early Intervention. Each State County has a lead agency responsible for implementing services to children who live in that geographic County. The program was set up in a manner that represented a commitment of New York State toward investing in the future of its children.  
        At present however, we, members of the UNITED NY Early Intervention Providers and Parents As Partners Coalition, we, your people of NYS, as you said in your state of the state message this week, have lost trust in the government, particularly in how the NYS DOH Early Intervention Program is being managed. It appears that the tenets of NYS DOH EI are being interpreted by a self-sustaining bureaucracy that is disconnected from the very program it is responsible for.  They have become a slave to a budget that no longer services the children, a group that as you had said in your address that consists of committees and boards and committees that yield little if any productivity.
          Recent regulatory and legislative changes have taken effect that impacts the Early Intervention in NYS seven significant ways and has resulted in the following:

1. a significant reduction in the number of children who qualify for any and all services
2. a reduction in the frequency of services offered
3. the use of paraprofessionals instead of licensed and certified professionals
4. early intervention therapists and educators and independent contractors received at least a 10% rate reduction effective 4/1/10. Having received only one rate increase in 1993, of 2-3%, early intervention therapists and educators are now receiving less than they did at the inception of the program.  I don't need to tell you that the cost of living in NYS has risen nearly 60% since 1992. Our EI providers no longer have work.  Our EI agencies are struggling to survive.
5. ARRA funds, stimulus monies offered to Early Intervention are either being denied by municipalities or utilized in efforts that recreate an unnecessary wheel, funds wasted, spent foolishly and without conscience.
6. a bureaucratic infrastructure that refuses to recognize or address the issues in EI that are apparent to the masses noting, as you said, you can never solve a problem if you refuse to acknowledge it.
7. relying on other state models to assist us in managing our budget.  Aren't we supposed to be the Premier State, that which others look to?

Our children with developmental disabilities in the NYS Early Intervention Program are no longer receiving the support they need to compensate for and/or overcome their disability. We recognize that if our children do not receive these much needed services now, they will forever be part of the special education system.  Our government will be responsible for supporting their needs for their lifetime.
          In your State of the State message on January 5th of this year, you invited children from the 62 counties across the state to share the stage with you. Symbolically, you communicated to us all that the future of NYS is with our greatest human resource: children.  

          The UNITED NY Early Intervention Providers and Parents As Partners, would like NYS Early Intervention to function with integrity and pride -- it no longer is.  
          WE IMPLORE YOU to reform, reorganize, redesign an EI system that is no longer working for the children, the families and the providers.  
          WE IMPLORE YOU to address the inappropriateness of changes introduced in 2010 to reduce the number of children who qualify for services.
          WE IMPLORE YOU to address the significant decrease in frequency of services provided and untherapeutic mandates now offered in direct opposition to IDEA.
           WE IMPLORE YOU to re-evaluate the rate reimbursement reduction initiated on 4/1/10 in a regulatory change implemented by the former DOH Commissioner and reinstate the rates of providers as they were on 3/1/10.
           WE IMPLORE YOU to support the Assembly Bill A00705 and structure a reasonable rate initiative to the front line of early intervention, the most productive part of Early Intervention, the providers of service.
           WE IMPLORE YOU to investigate the use of ARRA funds by each municipality in the Department of Health's Early Intervention Program.
           WE IMPLORE YOU to respond to the current bureaucracy of NYS Early Intervention by selecting new staff whose experience reflects knowledge, skill, passion, and commitment to children with disabilities and who are connected with and understand the impact of any and all changes and who seek to make NYS Early Intervention once again the Premiere State in this area.
           WE IMPLORE YOU to ensure that only meaningful committees and boards staffed by self-less professionals, administrators, therapists, educators, and families of children who are in and have been part of Early Intervention function as part of NYS Early Intervention's team of advisors.
          It is not only the legacy of your father, particularly in the area of Early Intervention, but your sensitivity to the necessity to appreciate and educate our children, the legacy of our state, that gives us hope.

          We look forward to your response.