Aurora toddler Ollie is an early riser — he never wants to miss his current routine of hugging all the stuffed animals in his room in turn, then the dog he’s dubbed “cow cow.” He loves the snow and lights up in music therapy at the Anchor Center for Blind Children.

“He’s just kind of goofy in an endearing way, and we love that. He’s always laughing and joking, just really happy all the time,” said Ollie’s father, Nick Colgin.

Colgin said his family moved last year to Colorado from Indiana to find better resources for the 20-month-old, who has two brain malformations that affect his vision and development. The Anchor Center was one draw, but the other was Early Intervention Colorado, a state program that coordinates therapies for very young children with disabilities and developmental delays.

Colgin said the 20 hours a week in specialized developmental therapy Ollie receives is a game changer for meeting his multifaceted needs.

That’s why the family was devastated to learn in late February that the program would drastically cut its services. In a memo to providers Feb. 25, the Colorado Department of Early Childhood said the program would implement “cost-containment” measures, like limiting therapy hours to four per month and discontinuing services not covered by Medicaid.

As a legally blind child, Ollie was receiving therapy specific to improving his development with vision in mind. Those therapies, which are not covered by Medicaid, would no longer be offered in the program, according to the communication. Colgin said his family would have needed to choose among the therapists Ollie currently sees under recommendation from his care plan.

“I don’t think that’s the way you address the medical needs of a child,” said Colgin.

After a public outcry and an emergency session of the  legislature’s Joint Budget Committee, the cuts were paused before they could be implemented. Now, state lawmakers have passed a bill allocating $2 million from other appropriations to offset some of what program administrators identified as a $4 million budget deficit.

In a bulletin on Monday, CDEC said it would also work with partners to “leverage unspent funds” to make up the difference.

The move should allow the program to keep providing services for a few more months. The CDEC confirmed no changes.

“Services will continue as usual,” the bulletin read.

The measure will only fund Early Intervention until the end of the fiscal year in June. After that, the future of the program is up in the air as the state faces a budget deficit of over $1 billion and potential cuts to Medicaid coming down the pipe from Washington.

In a meeting on the budget bill on March 13, Rep. Rick Taggart, R-Mesa County, was critical of the program administrators’ responses to the committee’s questions on Early Intervention. He said he felt the short-term continuation of services was vulnerable despite assurances.

“I’m just really uncomfortable with this situation,” he said.

Taggart and others on the JBC have been critical of the CDEC’s handling of the cuts, which were announced without consultation with lawmakers and set a deadline of six days for providers to begin adjusting services.

Taggart said the previous interaction with the CDEC left “a lot of questions in (his) mind as to was this going to carry them through to the end of the year with absolutely no qualifications.”

CDEC officials did not participate in the March 13 meeting.

Jeanni Stefanik, chief financial officer for CDEC, said at the emergency JBC hearing at the end of February that the announcement came after the department realized a problem with recent spending projections.

Stefanik said the program was buckling under increased enrollment numbers, decreasing Medicaid coverage and the end of other funding streams.

“It’s all come together to create this perfect storm,” she said.

With services — and reimbursements to therapy providers — set to continue as is, the funding issues Stefanik identified may still not be addressed in the long term. In the bulletin on Monday, CDEC said it would “continue working with the JBC to protect vital services in the next year and ensure the long-term sustainability of this program, while minimizing any impact to families and providers.”

Colgin said continuation of care is vital for his son.

“It’s scary already having a child with a disability. It’s even scarier when you rely on these people who are supposed to be there to help you,” he said.

CDEC is hosting virtual work sessions with parents and providers throughout the next month to discuss questions and concerns about Early Intervention. A list of times and meeting links can be found at bit.ly/4hoNpRM.