Several state lawmakers announced a renewed commitment Friday to boosting early intervention programming for children.

Early intervention provides crucial services to children who have developmental delays and abilities. Services are required to be legally mandated to be provided within 30 days of receiving an order from a doctor.

However, lawmakers said thousands of children across the state — including more than 1,000 in Monroe County — are currently stuck waiting for services past the legally required time frame of 30 days.

“We need to make sure that these kids are getting timely services, and we can’t provide those because we don’t have enough providers,” Assemblymember Jen Lunford (D-Perinton) said. “The provider shortage is an issue that we’re dealing with across the board, and we need to make sure that we are doing everything we can to support these people that are doing critical work for our most at-risk kids.”

Lunsford and other lawmakers are calling on Gov. Kathy Hochul to include an 11% rate increase for early intervention services into her state budget.

“The rate for early intervention services has not gone up in decades,” Lunsford said. “We have providers who are not only being underpaid for their time, but who are providing fee-for-service work — that means that if they show up at a door and no one’s home, they aren’t getting paid for that time. They’re not getting paid for their documentation time, they’re not getting paid for their travel time, so people are leaving this industry.”

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