Kids hang in balance when state won't pay bills on time

Teaching a child who has never spoken how to say "I love you" can be stressful. So can coaxing a first step out of a child who has never walked. Now the therapists who work with children who have special needs have the additional pressure of not being paid on time.

"It's like going to your job and never knowing when you will be paid," says Nicole Molinaro, a physical therapist from Algonquin who works with young children in the state's early intervention program. She says one therapist friend is owed $10,000 and has no idea when the state will pay her.

"With that kind of outstanding payment with them - some of them might drop out," worries Joe Straka, executive director of PACT Inc., a charitable agency in Lombard that helps people with disabilities. "But everybody is doing their best to keep the services for the kids."

On his Web site, state Comptroller Daniel W. Hynes warns that the "unprecedented bill backlog" and delays for many service providers "pose a serious danger to the solvency of and operations of any institutions that depend on state funding."

As of now, the more than 4,000 therapists in the program are continuing to work, and those kids who need early intervention are still getting services. That's essential.

"Catch the problem on the front end, it winds up being much less of a problem," Straka says of the early intervention program. "It's a godsend to parents."

The program helps children from birth to age 3 who have developmental delays due to Down syndrome, autism, spina bifida, cerebral palsy and other ailments. Huntley parents Angie and Gary Minor were so impressed with the dedication and success of the four therapists who helped their son, Josh, that the mom wrote a letter last week to the governor asking him to make sure therapists get paid on time.

"They were fantastic," Angie Minor says of the four - Molinaro, her son's physical therapist; an occupational therapist; a developmental therapist and a social worker.

As a baby with a cyst on his spine and a disorder that left him with a weak neck, Josh Minor couldn't crawl or roll over when babies typically do. His neurosurgeon recommended the state's early intervention program.

"What those four ladies did for us, we could not have done," Angie Minor gushes. "My son went from being not able to use his right hand to using his right hand, from not being able to jump to jumping. As the mom and dad, we just sat there and said, 'Thank God, thank God, thank God for the early intervention program.'"

Josh now can play soccer and other sports.

"When he turned 3 and aged out of the program, I cried because these therapists meant so much to our family," his mom says. "I don't think there's enough words to say how much this program means."

Let's hope there is enough money to keep the program so meaningful.

PACT Inc. had to borrow money to pay staff and keep programs going because the state payments were late, but "no services were cut back for the kids," Straka says. It's difficult for providers to gauge their financial status for many services because the payments from the state are so erratic.

"We got full payment for October, but so far have received half a month's payment for September," Straka says. "This has been unusual and I think it's largely a reflection of the economy. The state is pressed for finances and resources - unfortunately, that doesn't provide much comfort to folks who are in need."

Molinaro says she and the other therapists are in financial limbo.

"People need to hear how the state is neglecting providers that service children with special needs," Molinaro says. "This is so important."

Yes, it is.

Straka says he's grateful the 2009 budget for these programs wasn't cut, but he worries about what might happen when the legislature reconvenes in January.

"We never feel," Straka says, "that we're out of the woods."