CLIFTON PARK – There are roughly 70,000 babies and toddlers in New York state who rely on therapy just to be able to walk or talk, but families and providers are telling NewsChannel 13 the services that help these children are rapidly declining.

Lacie Schweigert loves what she does for a living, providing therapy services to young children that have developmental delays or disabilities.

“If you’ve ever been on a job where you can say I’d rather go to work on a bad day than stay home, this is the best job in the world,” Lacie said, with a caveat, “If I get paid.”

There within lies the dilemma. Lacie says she’s not getting paid by the state. Ever since the State Department of Health launched a new billing system last October, she says it has been a “disaster.”

“It’s an abomination right now,” Schweigert said. “It’s in complete turmoil.”

Part of the problem, according to Schweigert, is that crucial data from the old early development computer system did not migrate into the new system, but because she’s not being reimbursed by the state, she had to notify her clients she couldn’t work for free.

“I understand it,” said Serenity Giles, the mother of a 2-year-old daughter who received therapy from Schweigert. “It can’t come out of her pocket. I don’t blame Lacie at all, but I was devastated. I cried when I read that email.”

Giles says the therapy her daughter, Reagan, has already received has been a godsend.

“By the time they are 3, they age out,” Giles said. “So the longer that they take to get it together, the longer my daughter is going without a service that her doctors have said would greatly benefit her, and that’s not fair to her. These are such crucial times in their development, and they’re screwing around with it.”

Ariella Arroyo, 4, is a little girl with special needs who began receiving early intervention therapy when she was 18 months old.

“She couldn’t walk,” Tabitha Arroyo said about her daughter. “She would constantly bang her head on the floor and cry. She didn’t have motor skills. If she didn’t receive the services she did, I don’t know how she’d be now.”

Serenity Giles says she isn’t just concerned about her own daughter, she’s also wondering if there’ll be enough early intervention providers for other families.

“Eventually this is going to become such a big deal because it’s going to extinguish the passion (that providers bring to the table),” Giles said. “And then kids like my daughter are affected because they don’t get services that they need any more.”

“I’m not confident at all that I’ll be able to resume services I’ve discontinued any time soon,” Schweigert said, pointing out she’s the only provider in the Capital Region who offers a parent/toddler group session.

Responding to NewsChannel 13’s request for comment, the State Health Department issued the following statement:

“New York State’s first priority is to ensure that the 70,000 children served by the early intervention program continue to receive the health care and resources they need. At this time, the Department has worked to address technical problems with the EI-Hub that have, in certain and limited circumstances, prevented providers from being paid on time. Providers are now being reimbursed in a timely manner, and we continue to make improvements to the EI-Hub to ensure it operates smoothly for providers and therapists statewide.”