Latest Weather Blog
DCFS secretary says he wants to encourage people to support foster families
Related Story
BATON ROUGE - Nearly 4,200 Louisiana children are in the foster care system, and during the entire month of May, the Department of Children and Family Services is encouraging people to become or support foster parents.
“Foster parents aren’t the kind of people who will go up and say ‘Hey, I need,'" DCFS Secretary David Matlock said. “They’re the kind of people to ask what you need.”
Matlock says the department is working to streamline the onboarding process to make it more agile and more accessible for families who are interested in becoming foster parents.
“A lot of folks are like, ‘I don’t know if I want to be a foster parent,' or like me, I’m in my older years, but I do have things that I would like to serve," he said.
Matlock says there are plenty of ways for communities to support foster parents, many of which often receive unexpected calls to take children into their homes. The children who are moved into foster care are already experiencing a complete lifestyle change, and he wants to bridge the gap to ensure an easier transition.
In East Baton Rouge Parish, there are about 478 children in foster care and 183 homes, Matlock said.
“The more homes we have available around the state, I don’t have to have a child moving from Ruston to Alexandria,” Matlock said.
Matlock took over as secretary 15 months ago. Then, in April 2024, the nonprofit group called A Better Childhood, a group dedicated to “reforming dysfunctional childhood welfare systems,” filed a class action lawsuit against DCFS. It came after the deaths of children who DCFS had been notified about but allegedly had not taken action.
The group suing DCFS says that employees have heavy caseloads.
The lawsuit noted highlighted two high-profile deaths of children in 2022 — Mitchell Robinson from a fentanyl overdose in Baton Rouge and Ezekiel Harry in Houma, whose body was found in a trash can. Another high-profile case also involved foster children. On April 28, Michael Hadden was sentenced to 311 years in prison for sexually abusing three foster children.
Comparing the office to a year ago, Matlock says he’s been working to improve conditions and structure to better serve the children of the state.
“We don’t have children living in offices and hotel rooms,” he said. “A year ago, we did.”
The group alleged that workers are inundated with caseloads, and sought DCFS be brought into compliance with “applicable federal law and constitutional standard.”
State Rep. Kim Carver, R-Mandeville, has authored a bill that would reorganize the state office.
The bill proposes a change to the departmental structure of DCFS, allowing for the executive office of the secretary to maintain general supervision of DCFS. Then, the Office of Child Welfare would provide child protective services, human trafficking programs, foster children and adoption placement services, and prevent child abuse and neglect.
“If we have to place a child out of parish or out of region, that’s a big deal,” Matlock said. “We’re trying to reunify those families, and if you have to go a long way, then transportation isn’t easy.”
The bill passed the Committee on House and Governmental Affairs unanimously and is up for consideration by the state House of Representatives.
News
