Children's Advocacy asks for investigators, guardians ad litem and recurring support amid rising incident reports

Amanda Whittle, director of the Department of Children's Advocacy, presented the agency's FY26 budget request and described workload increases that the department says outstrip current capacity.

Whittle said the department received 2,894 critical incident notifications in FY24 and that the system improvement division conducted 1,161 investigations. "We're asking for five investigators, three attorneys, and a supervisor," she told the committee, saying additional staff are necessary for timely, statutorily required oversight.

The director also asked for expanded guardian ad litem staffing: she recounted that the agency requested 21 FTEs previously and received eight, and said the current ask includes 14 positions to reduce staff caseloads; she described staff members sometimes carrying caseloads as high as 30 children. Whittle said the guardian ad litem program served 11,577 children in FY24 with an average of 8,468 children per year.

Whittle requested recurring funding of $3,251,706 and $416,000 in nonrecurring funds for operations and listed IT costs including $85,000 for Microsoft Office licensing and $77,000 for end‑of‑life network switch replacement. She warned the committee the department will exhaust carryforward funds if state allocations do not increase.

Committee members offered thanks and asked no formal motions; Whittle said the agency aims to continue recruitment and to preserve capacity to investigate critical incidents and support children in court and community settings.