Child abuse survivors could be left in the cold if the legislature doesn’t patch the state’s budget crisis.
Budget cuts don’t just threaten TOPS and children with disabilities. The Department of Children and Family Services may not be able to investigate most child abuse claims.
DCFS Secretary Marketa Garner Walters told the House Budget Committee about this possibility becoming a reality if the State Legislature doesn’t find $15 million to staff the appropriate workers to administer claims by June 30, according to The Advocate.
According to The Advocate, the Department’s budget has already endured a cut of $519 million under the eight years of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration.
Under a drastic scenario highlighted before the committee, The Advocate reports “perhaps only the most severe cases of child abuse would get investigated, and calls to report child abuse could go unanswered because there are too few employees to work the phones.”
While state legislators debate slashing spending and raising revenue, DCFS remains on its last limb. “We’re at the bottom of the barrel here. There is no fluff in this agency,” Walters told The Advocate. “We simply cannot sustain more cuts and serve the families that we are obligated to serve.”
This predicament isn’t just shocking. Leaving behind children who survived abuse is immoral in its lowest form.
Last year, 26,000 child abuse cases were reported in Louisiana, with 6,500 of those cases requiring immediate response because the child was believed to be in imminent danger. According to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, one in four girls and one in six boys will experience sexual abuse before they turn 18.
Without proper staffing and funding, Louisiana will allow the perpetrators of child abuse to go unpunished and children without proper treatment or resources to deal with the trauma of child abuse.
According to the Louisiana Partnership for Children and Families, child maltreatment is associated “with increased risk of low academic achievement, drug use, teenage pregnancy” and a host of other negative effects.
Even with the current case load, it’s likely DCFS isn’t reaching many survivors of child abuse. According to the Louisiana Partnership for Children and Families, child abuse is often underreported.
Louisiana should dedicate more resources to child abuse prevention, as it barely has the resources to combat abuse after it happens.
While you’re freaking out about TOPS, the state government is ignoring children and child abuse cases because some legislators refuse to raise taxes. These children don’t have lobbyists like the business industry to defend them or catchy chants, because talking about child abuse is difficult.
Legislators are willing to shut the door in the faces of child abuse survivors to satisfy their “no new taxes” cult ideology. If you want to protect children, then raise taxes to fund DCFS.
If legislators refuse to raise taxes, the state could let child abusers go free. The legislature’s incompetence will be felt in every phone call reporting child abuse to DCFS caseworker who will have to say, “I’m sorry we don’t have the funds to investigate your case. Your child is on their own.”
According to The Advocate, the House Ways and Means Committee took some steps to raise revenues on Tuesday, but many legislators may be unwilling to fund the health care needs of the state’s most vulnerable children.
Our state should provide every resource necessary to stop the cycle of child abuse instead of creating roadblocks for these vulnerable children.
Michael Beyer is a 22-year-old political science senior from New Orleans, Louisiana.