GOSHEN COUNTY – Wyoming Child and Family Development Centers will operate under a 22% budget cut for the 2021-22 biennium. 

Goshen County’s two centers, Torrington Learning Center and Lincoln Infant Toddler Center, will be impacted, as will services including child development screenings, special education, home visits and more, according to Area Coordinator Lacy Judkins.  

Judkins said cuts specifically slash funding for Developmental Services for the infants through 3-year-old children with disabilities, which could have a long term impact on the community.

According to Judkins, the most effective time for intervention is before age 5. 

“We may not be able to serve as many kids,” Judkins said. “(Budget cuts) are a temporary fix, but then they’re going to get this wave of kids from birth to 5 that haven’t had any intervention enter into school. Will the school district be able to help catch these kids up and be able to provide them with the services they need to be able to be successful in school?” 

TLC serves children from birth to age 5 and LITC is for infants to 3 years old and pregnant women. Judkins said the programs are income-based, but there are “over-income” slots that are paid. Any children in the community aged birth through 5 can receive free developmental screenings.  

The centers are funded by the DOH, whose total budget was cut 9% as part of Gov. Mark Gordon’s first round of state-wide cuts announced at the end of August. WCFD Executive Director Danielle Wondercheck said the current cuts are “a devastating blow,” and she is concerned by the possibility of more to come later this fall when Gordon announces a second round. 

WCFD serves more than 3,600 children statewide, and services in Goshen County serve between 100 and 150 children per year, according to Judkins.

Cindy Griebe’s four children, Fawn, 10, Leyton, 8, Nealani, 5, and Sienna, 3, have all participated in their programs, and she served on the WCFD 2019-20 policy council.

TLC and LITC have in-house speech therapists and contract out physical and occupational therapists to help children with developmental disabilities. For Griebe, the centers’ biggest impacts have been in terms of speech therapy. Her son, Leighton had trouble communicating before intervention.

“As a parent, without the screenings, I wouldn’t have even known he had a speech problem at all,” Griebe said. “Because you get used to hearing your child and you know what they’re saying. I didn’t know I needed to fix things, so without him going through that program, he would’ve been way behind.”

In their budget, the DOH listed “minimize impacts on vulnerable populations” as one of its goals. In Judkins’ opinion, cuts to CDC programs do just the opposite. 

“I understand the state is hurting and they have to take money somewhere, but a lot of times it’s the kids and the elderly that get affected and that’s the bummer part,” Judkins said. 

WCFD created a community assessment within its eight-county service area to better understand the populations they serve and to “prioritize identifying new or underserved populations and assessing their needs and the available community resources available to address them, in order to provide the highest quality services to the families in our communities.”

According to the report, more than 25% of Goshen County children were food insecure in 2016-17. This percentage is higher than any of WCFD’s other service areas and that of Wyoming as a whole, over 18%, and the United States, over 23%. 

“A county with such a high percentage of children who are food insecure shows that our population is hurting,” Judkins said. “A family’s income shouldn’t be a deciding factor in the ability for their children to receive high quality services. We provide all-day preschool in Head Start. Early Head Start has full-day Early Head Start classes as well as wrap around childcare. For a family to know their child is safe, getting to build on their school readiness skills, all while getting served healthy and nutritious meals, shouldn’t depend on how much money they make.”

Wondercheck sent a survey to community members to voice their support of the organization’s services with the goal of obtaining 5,000 responses. As of Sept. 21, they have roughly 1,500 signatures.

“We need the help and support of our communities at this time,” Wondercheck wrote in an email to The Telegram. “We hope that every person, regardless of if they or a family member has directly received services, please take a moment to complete this Google survey to support this valuable cause.”

Judkins said it’s not just about the centers, but how they connect families with resources in the community. Dentists come in for those who cannot afford dental care. Prior to the novel coronavirus pandemic, parents and people in the community, including firefighters and police officers, came to interact with the kids. 

“It’s more than just our center and what our centers do, we have connections with different resources in the community that we link families with,” Judkins said.

Beyond their tangible services, these centers are where some children obtain the love and care that’s essential to their development, Griebe said.

“There’s kids that would not even have the love that they need, except for this program,” she said. “And they do find it. The kids love it there. It’s neat to see all these different kids progress through the program.”