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Reforms to the Department of Children and Family Services could be among the unexpected yields from the ongoing regular session of the Legislature, Julie Emerson, the governor’s chief of staff, said on the latest episode of the LaPolitics Report Podcast. (Listen on Spotify or Apple)
With the session’s adjournment slated for June 1, the Senate Health and Welfare Committee is working towards initial passage of SB 462 by Sen. Patrick McMath.
While the bill’s reach and scope are being debated in private meetings, initial amendments originally sought to create a call center led by State Police to handle child abuse reports and establish enforcement authority for the attorney general’s office on child support issues. But nothing is certain as this week comes to a close and how the bill might target a department long under the microscope is unknown.
“I don’t know that anybody saw the reforming of DCFS becoming a little bit more prominent [this session],” Emerson said on the podcast, adding, “I do have a lot of respect for Secretary [Rebecca] Harris… I think she’s very reform minded. I think there’s a lot of concern. Obviously, again, anytime you’re dealing with our most vulnerable children, you want to protect them. And you know, we need to make sure that we are taking the right steps, that we are putting safeguards in place. So I think everyone is kind of at the table now, willing to make changes, willing to look at what other states do.”
Driving the debate is Louisiana’s status of being the worst state in the nation for child homicides. While a previously-discussed amendment would have transferred child welfare related duties from DCFS to the Department of Health, a drastic measure Gov. Jeff Landry said he wanted more input on before further consideration of the bill, lawmakers and advocates alike are looking for DCFS’ services to be either reduced in some fashion or shared with other departments and agencies.
The matter could be discussed publicly again by lawmakers as soon as next week.
“There’s so many different partners, everything from law enforcement to judges and social workers,” Emerson said in her podcast interview. “There’s a lot of people involved in that process. So I think any investment that we can make there, any investment of time and resources, is rewarding because we’re protecting kids.”
THEY SAID IT: “If President Biden had discovered life on Mars, he would have sent it money.” — U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, posted on X
