Anyone have a good form letter to start from?
/hillary
This is the example they sent me.
Date:______
Governor Deval Patrick
State House Room 360
Boston, Ma. 02133
Ron Benham
Director, Bureau of Family Health and Nutrition
250 Washington St.
Boston, Ma. 02108
RE: Testimony for DPH Public Hearing on the Commonwealth’s 24th Year Grant Application Under Part C of IDEA - Proposed Eligibility and Parent Fee Changes to the Massachusetts Early Intervention Program
Dear Governor Patrick and Ron Benham, Director, Bureau of Family Health/ Nutrition:
My name is ____________ and I am writing because I am extremely concerned about the drastic eligibility changes and massive parent fees you are currently proposing to the Massachusetts Early Intervention program.
I understand that the Commonwealth is facing a severe fiscal crisis but to ask children and families that rely on Early Intervention services to bear the brunt of the budget shortfall is unfair and will cause severe economic hardship to families like mine.
I want to tell you what the proposed eligibility and parent fee changes would mean for my family and my child(children).
My son/daughter or twins _______________ have been receiving Early Intervention for (give time period and brief description on the EI services your child has received).
Through the help and work of Early Intervention, …..(Talk about the impact of services and the gains your child/children have made) (Talk about the impact of the services on your family.)
One of the changes being proposed by the state, is to drastically increase family participation fees,
• Would you be able to afford the new fees? Discuss the anguish it would cause if you could not afford to pay for services that you know help your child.
• Talk about the financial burden on your family if you had to increase your participation fee by 700% or higher for EI services.
• Discuss how much you already pay for medical insurance, how much it increases each year and how much it went up in January or how much you expect it to increase in July.
• Discuss your co-payments and deductibles.
• Discuss monthly or annual medical costs that your family incurs for medical appointments including specialist visits, prescriptions, equipment/orthotics, any special formula needed, special care, etc.
• Discuss any changes in family income, such as if you have had to leave or cut back on work to care for your child’s special needs.
Another change proposed is to increase eligibility from 30% to 40% and 50% in expressive language.
• Discuss if your child would no longer be eligible under the proposed change in eligibility. standard
• Discuss how that would affect you knowing that your child DOES have a delay, but that you cannot access Early Intervention services to help.
sample language:
“Under the proposed cutbacks, our son/daughter ______would not have been eligible for services. I can’t imagine______’s life and our family’s life without EI. Thanks to EI, ______is making progress and I cannot imagine knowing my child has a delay and not having the resources to help him/her.
• Request that eligibility for Early Intervention services maintain at 30% delay.
• Request that the financial burden not be passed on to families.
• PICTURES, PICTURES, PICTURES say 1,000 words! Please include a picture(s) of your child.
Closing (sample language)
The Massachusetts Early Intervention Consortium has developed a plan to address the EI budget shortfall in a way that is more fair and balanced and will preserve eligibility and minimize the impact on children and families like mine. I urge you to work with the Consortium to preserve Early Intervention services in Massachusetts.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Sign name and address
And here is some of the information that is more spelled out:
Dear Families:
As the deep economic recession across Massachusetts and the country has affected us in many ways, I want to share with you the impact on Early Intervention Services. Early Intervention is a program of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. State funding supports the 59 EI Programs in Massachusetts. Over the past two years, there have been substantial cuts to the state budget due to the economic crisis and decreased revenue coming into the state through taxes which has also affected the EI budget.
The Early Intervention budget is facing a $2 million shortfall for the remainder of this year and a $10.5 million shortfall for the next fiscal year starting July 1st. (Early Intervention received federal stimulus money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which helped to preserve services after cuts for the past two years which will no longer be available.)
To balance the EI budget deficit, the state is proposing increasing family participation fees approximately 7X (700%) and even higher for families in the 301-400% FPG (1,333%) !! The state is posed to implement this change starting April 1st. The Early Intervention Consortium has been advocating strongly against this proposal, but we need parents to speak out. We need parents to let the state know that this drastic increase in participation fee will cause families like yourself to have to discontinue the services that are so desperately needed for their child.
The Massachusetts Early Intervention Consortium requesting that as many families as possible come to a STROLLER-IN AT THE GOVERNOR’S OFFICE ON MONDAY, MARCH 1ST FROM 10:00-11:00 AM. The changes proposed by DPH are so drastic that we fear that families will not be able to access services and that the early intervention system will dismantle. We need as many families as possible to attend and let the Governor know that this is unacceptable. Time is of the essence, as the proposed fees are scheduled to go into effect in 1 month.
DPH has scheduled public hearings on February 25th and March 1st. We feel that families would be more effective by showing up at the Stroller-In on Monday, March 1st than attending the DPH Hearings. However, we still need parent letters to be submitted as testimony for the DPH Public Hearings on the proposed changes to the EI system as part of the Commonwealth’s 24rth year grant under part C of Public Law IDEA. Bring a copy of your letter with you to give to the Governor. (Please note that it can be hand-written and that pictures are invaluable.
If you cannot attend the STROLLER-IN, please write a letter addressed as follows: (See attached guideline template)
Governor Deval Patrick
State House Room 360
Boston, MA 02133
Attn: Ron Benhan
DPECSHN
Massachusetts Department of Public Health
250 Washington St., 5th Floor
Boston, MA 02108 – 4619
• Send a copy of your letter to your Program Director and/or Martha Levine, President MEIC
[email protected] and/or Mary Ann Mulligan at
[email protected] so that we may use the letters across all venues when the Early Intervention Consortium Board advocates with the Legislators. (Electronic copies preferred)
[email protected]
• CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATORS and send them a copy of your letter
http://www.mass.gov/legis/city_town.htm
THANK YOU FOR HELPING TO PRESERVE EARLY INTERVENTION FOR YOUR CHILD AND ALL THE CHILDREN IN THE COMMONWEALTH THAT NEED EARLY INTERVENTION SERVICES.
Martha Levine, Director
Cape Ann Early Intervention
[email protected]
978-921-1182