Full stop! We stand against shipping container prisons for Louisiana’s children. Yes, Louisiana lacks sufficient space for detained and incarcerated children. However, based on experiences worldwide, converting shipping containers into prison cells is not a reasonable answer. For some time, the State of Louisiana and many of its parishes and municipalities have struggled with a shortage of properly maintained, permanently…
Posts published in “child well-being”
PDF Version: Open Letter: OJJ, Football, and Children An Open Letter to Members of the Louisiana State Legislature When Deliberating Juvenile Justice-related Items During the Extraordinary Session, Consider the Study Emotional Judges and Unlucky Juveniles 1 Which Finds that LSU Tiger Football Influences the Length of Juvenile Sentences. Dear Honorable Senators and Representatives of Louisiana, The Louisiana Governor, with Proclamation…
Louisiana’s Office of Children’s Ombudsman is a missing piece of child well-being infrastructure. I believe the concept of “Child Well-Being Infrastructure” is essential. I think I can explain. Louisiana’s leaders frequently speak about “infrastructure.” As a result, infrastructure is a common topic in Louisiana’s news. For example, a few days ago, the Louisiana Governor’s Office (@LouisianaGov) tweeted that “thanks to…
Think of them as Mental Health Care Deserts. As of September 30, 2022, Louisianans living in the 167 Mental Health Care Professional Shortage Areas (“HPSA”) live in communities without adequate local mental health care. The Bureau of Health Workforce of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (“DHHS”) identifies HPSAs. In other words, this is official information, and the…
The following open letter to Louisiana’s Governor and Legislature relates the root cause of DCFS’s current condition to Louisiana’s long history of underfunding and understaffing our state’s child welfare program. Open Letter to Governor and Legislature Regarding Department of Children and Family Services From analyzing information recently published in The Advocate, it seems clear that during the last 15 years,…
I did not learn everything I needed to know in Mrs. Waggoner’s kindergarten in Beeville, Texas, but I did learn valuable lessons. One important rule was that if one of us brought candy to class, we had to bring enough for everybody. The lesson? No one gets left out. The next year I attended the first grade at F.M.C., the…
This morning I read a Twitter post about the success of Medicaid expansion which reported that 97% of Louisiana’s children now have some form of health insurance coverage. In a state which holds the dubious distinction of holding the average position of 49th for 29 years when ranked for child well-being, 97% coverage for health care is astoundingly significant! Online…
Many in Louisiana miss it, but the military understands the importance of child well-being. This evening as I read, “Retired military brass tell why 75 percent of Louisiana’s young people wouldn’t qualify for service” in The Advocate, I was reminded of a 102-year-old news article stored in my files. I found it. On February 9, 1916, the Shreveport Times published…
Open Letter to Louisiana Legislature Regarding Children’s Services RE: Louisiana Legislative Audit, Access to Comprehensive and Appropriate Specialized Behavioral Health Services in Louisiana Friday, February 23, 2018 Dear Honorable Louisiana Senators and Representatives, The Louisiana Legislative Auditor released a performance audit on February 14, 2018, titled, Access to Comprehensive and Appropriate Specialized Behavioral Health Services in Louisiana. I believe performance…