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Child advocacy centers urge lawmakers to restore additional $1.5M after federal cuts; center staff cite therapy and crisis services
Summary
Child advocacy center leaders asked the Appropriations Committee for an additional $1.5 million to bring state support to $3 million and offset federal cuts, citing services to 7,319 children last year and the role centers play for victims of abuse and trafficking.
Leaders of Louisiana’s Child Advocacy Centers (CACs) told the House Appropriations Committee that cuts to federal funds have left centers stretched and asked the legislature to increase state support toward $3 million to sustain services.
The lede: Crystal Mitchell, executive director of the Louisiana Alliance of Children's Advocacy Centers, told the committee that CACs provide coordinated forensic interviews, trauma‑focused therapy, victim advocacy and support for children who were abused, witnessed violence or were trafficked. "Last year, 7,319 children were served at 1 of the 14 CACs across the state," she said.
The nut graf: CAC leaders said the centers are facing reductions in federal VOCA and other funding streams and asked legislators to supplement state appropriations so centers can retain staff, maintain medical exam capacity and continue trauma‑informed services that they described as preventive and stabilizing for families.
Maria Elena Allgood, clinical director at the Baton Rouge Children's Advocacy Center, described the center's work through a client story in which therapy, family support and coordinated services enabled a child and family to recover after multiple traumas and the subsequent murder of the child's father. The child completed therapy and "knows that we are always here for her for as long as we can keep the doors open," Allgood said.
Witnesses asked the committee to add $1,500,000 to reach $3,000,000 in state funding; Crystal Mitchell told lawmakers that Governor Landry had included $1,500,000 in his executive budget but that federal cuts left centers short of a sustainable total. CAC leaders said the additional funds would primarily cover staff salaries and allow centers to expand medical capacity and satellite services in rural parishes.
Questions from lawmakers focused on distribution and oversight. Mitchell said state-allocated funds are distributed by a formula that considers child population and National Children's Alliance accreditation status, and that centers also fundraise locally; legislators asked whether supplemental, earmarked funding could be applied directly to local centers without additional administrative reduction.
Ending: Committee members thanked CAC representatives, and officials including the governor’s human trafficking prevention director described CACs as a key partner for victim care and for crime‑prevention efforts. No appropriation vote or final decision was recorded in the transcript.
