Walworth County discusses outsourcing Birth-to-3 therapy services, possible displacement of four county employees

Walworth County Health and Human Services presented a proposal on June 18 to contract out therapy services for the county’s Birth-to-3 early intervention program, a change the department says would reduce levy dependence but that therapists warned could disrupt services for families.

The proposal, presented to the Human Resources Committee by the department representative Carlo Nevakosi, would shift therapy work currently done by county-employed therapists to a private vendor. “If we move forward with this proposal in a 2026 budget, 4 county staff would be displaced,” Nevakosi told the committee, while noting that “one provider agency… has interest in bringing all of them on” though no contract exists.

Program staff and several therapists urged the committee to keep the Birth-to-3 therapists as county employees. Heather Abels, who said she has worked…