NO More Funds

Yesterday, I was contacted by my son's speech therapist. She explained that we would not be meeting any longer or at least until she could get established on her own. The organization that employed her, Nourishing Families in Kansas, did not get the state funding that the 0-3yr old Infant-Toddler Program relies on to keep operating.

This is the only organization that provides speech, physical, occupational and other therapies to developmentally delayed pre-school children in my area. My insurance pays for my son's therapies, although not the amount that is charged by the organization (about 60%). Perhaps Nourishing Families needed the state funds to operate because insurance companies would not pay the full amount. Or perhaps because they provide therapies to kids who may not be able to pay at all. I do not know.

In any case, there will be huge hole in services to area children that are in a critical development stage. Intervention at early ages is the best chance these kids have rise to their full potential in the future.

My question...who makes these decisions and what is being funded instead of this important program. I suspect these programs are easier to drop because these parents are too busy with their children to lobby their congressmen. I was not even aware that Kansas was having huge budget problems. And I do try to keep up. It just seems like our children should be a priority, not a top-of-the-list liability that can be cut without explanation.

Betsy