8/5/2026: 82,064 Louisiana children lose food benefits due to LDH procedures. Louisiana’s SNAP numbers drop, but not due to work requirements or citizenship: State data overwhelmingly point to ‘procedural reasons’ for decline in food aid recipients, Wesley Muller, Louisiana Illuminator “A substantial portion of those who’ve lost SNAP benefits in Louisiana are children. State data from July 2025 through June…
Posts tagged as “child well-being”
Have you ever read an old document and, as you settled into it, you found yourself confused about whether you are reading something from the past or the present? Perhaps you felt a reader’s deja vu and had the sense the old document in your hands could have been written this morning! I had the experience this week. It started…
All of us have heard of the Hippocratic Oath new physicians take. We also know another Hippocratic phrase, “First, do no harm“, found in the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates’ work titled, Of the Epidemics. In response to large health care crises, Hippocrates instructed physicians: “First, do no harm“. In my mind, this is especially true regarding the health and well-being…
While the budget debates during the Louisiana Legislature’s first Special Session of 2017 kept child advocates on the edges of their seats, Louisiana’s Representatives and Senators acted at the end to protect funding for foster children. Louisiana’s legislature did the right thing in funding the Department of Children and Family Services. In a state which sits at the bottom of…
There is no longer any excuse for ignoring Louisiana’s children. For anyone who has waited for the condition of Louisiana’s children to hit rock bottom before engaging in solutions, the wait is over. We are there. The Times-Picayune article, “Louisiana is the worst state in the U.S. for children, report says“, by Danielle Dreilinger, provides information about a report released…
Louisiana’s Children in Crisis: Too Few Louisiana Children Receive Necessary Dental Care A few years ago, a bowl of seafood gumbo did me in! I cracked a tooth all the way into the root on a piece of sand hidden in the gumbo. The tooth required a root canal. Because of an allergy to local anesthetics a dentist referred me…
Imagine you play on a team ranked 49th in your league against 49 other teams. Clearly, your team is doing poorly! Now imagine your entire league is ranked 26th among 28 other leagues. Your league is also losing! You play on a team ranked 49th out of 50 in a league ranked 26th out of 29! In this particular sport,…
I am beginning to feel hope for Louisiana’s children and I hope it is not false. Perhaps, as a state, we are beginning to look at the data and are becoming concerned. I say this because of an editorial I’ve just read in The Advocate, “Our Views: Louisiana is putting children behind other goals“. I say I am beginning to…
I have a dear friend who is fearful of spiders. I don’t know why, but he is. He invented a device to mount on the front of a four wheeler to remove spider webs as he moves through the woods. Once, a nameless someone slipped into his office and drew a spider on a blank page near the front of…