Here We Go Again...

Alas, nobody seems to have learned anything from the last ten times they were sued, and a new budget proposal is coming to cut DDD and related programs AGAIN!!!

It boggles my mind, really it does, how do you expect to resolve the budget problems by victimizing the citizens of this state? Is this really necessary? Honestly? Yes we are "broke" (as one Senator so eloquently put it), but this is not the first time the state has had major budget problems, and guess what? Eventually everything resolves itself.

I just don't get this obsession with dollars, money is a funny thing, no matter how much you loose, you will almost always have a future opportunity to make more, it is something that can be replaced.

I don't get why others don't see it this way, granted I am not trying to minimize some of the financial hardships individuals are undergoing at this time, living paycheck to paycheck is not something I'm trying to downplay, but in terms of the State of Arizona, as a whole, let's face it, there will always be people living here, doing business here, and paying taxes here, the federal government will always be giving us grants and other funding too. They will always have some sort of revenue flow in, the amount varies, but nethertheless it is still there and will always be.

What can't be replaced is time. We cannot take the critical time back for those children with disablities to maximize their level of functionig. It has a time limit children at a critical age or stage need therapies NOW, not sometime in the future when or if the legislators figure out how to balance a budget. That is someting that cannot be recouped, neither will the pain of parents knowing that if their children had been treated as human beings and been given the services so they could have the dignity of a functional life being taken away for years if not permanently, just so someone could try to balance a budget on a spreadsheet.

Get out your dialing fingers and your keyboards folks, it's time to call and write yet again, apparently it sounds like they will not take into account our previous efforts, so we have to start from scratch again, maybe we could just forward our old stuff with a new date since things have not changed.

If you don't know your district you can go online to :
www.azleg.gov/MemberRoster.asp

There is a previous template from April of last year posted on this blog as well, just go the the right sidbar under 2009, and click on April, the heading of the post should appear, contact me if you have any questions.

Due Process Still Continuing...

The State has not budged, they will not comit to sending a letter, we had another phone hearing, and not only do they refuse to give us a letter stating what their intentions are, they filed to have everything dismissed THE DAY BEFORE OUR CONFERENCE!

Luckily the judge didn't have the paperwork, and did not sound too pleased that nobody mentioned this motion to him or us, so he gave me some time to type a response, which is what I am working on right now, and why I have not had too much time to write much lately.

I will update with any useful info as I get it, I will not write too much about what I'm working on right now because I don't want any confusion if what I submit does not work out, either way I will post what I find out.

Due Process Hearing Saga Continues

I had a pre-hearing. The judge asked me if he has had services and if they had been maintained, I stated that they had, and that was not the point I was disputing. I was disputing the inital letter that stated that they had made the decision to remove his services due to funding problems, and let him know the only letter I have recieved from the state since then is a letter stating they were only providing services since they were forced to through litigation, and since there are new budget cuts proposed, I still had concerns.

The judge asked point blank if the decision had been reversed, or changed the reply "I don't know if I could say it was reversed" and they didn't know if it had been really changed either, they might just decide to go with that decision at a later point in time.

They also stated that they didn't know if they could give me a letter that would provide me with the "reassurance" that I needed (of course they didn't bother to ask, they assumed, and you know the old saying about assuming things). They did read a proposed draft letter they were thinking about giving to me, it sounded agreeable to me, but I still wanted to see it. They stated that they had to get approval from DES before they could provide me a copy, among some other things, and the judge issued a continuance.

So far, I just got word that they will not provide me with a letter, and as far as some of the other things, not a peep. Just goes to show how far they aren't willing to go for families.

My experience is, basically, in general, if someone is legitamate and following the law in business or otherwise, they have no problem putting things in writing for you. Anything else looks suspicious.

At least that is what consumer watch groups always tell you as well as news stations that do exposes on people getting robbed of their money. They tell you to not even deal with those individuals, and to report them.

Unfortunately we don't have a choice, and we don't really have anyone to report anyone to so we can get answers, or what we need.

I doubt I'll see a letter, I think I would have had an easier time if I had demmanded they pick up South Mountain and move it to Glendale.