Louisiana Department of Children & Family Services asks Legislature for $10M and 125 frontline hires to stabilize foster care and child-welfare operations

Baton Rouge — The Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services asked the House Appropriations Committee on April 8 for a package of staffing and operational funding meant to shore up front-line child-welfare services.

Secretary Judge W. Matlock told the committee the department needs 125 new front‑line human service positions — mostly caseworkers — at a state cost of about $10 million. Matlock said the request also includes 18 paralegals to support attorneys, additional vehicles and one-time funds to modernize waiver and placement rate setting.

Matlock framed the request as a workforce and performance priority: “We need 125 new TOs,” he said. He added that the extra paralegals would free attorneys and caseworkers to focus on courtroom work and on direct services. “Those 18 paralegals will also free up our lawyers,” he said, describing how legal and administrative tasks are taking time away from frontline care.

Why it matters: Matlock and his leadership credited recruitment and program changes with moving children out of emergency placements, saying the department had reduced the…