DEMOCRAT
May is Hurricane Preparedness Month
May is Hurricane Preparedness Month and it’s time to get ready before a hurricane enters the Gulf.
Be sure to verify you have appropriate supplies and that your family knows what to do in an emergency
Feliciana artists wanted
The Feliciana Artist Group in conjunction with the Feliciana Wildflower Festival will hold the Largest Art Show in the Felicianas under one roof from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 7. It will be in the Clinton United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall at the corner of St. Helena Street and Old South Drive.
Feliciana artists interested in showing can call Kathy Martin at (225) 245-1085.
Jackson library plant sale
The Jackson Branch of the Audubon Regional Library will have an Indoor Pant Swap from 1-3 p.m. May 23. The event will include a presentation by an LSU Master Gardener Bring clipping, small plants or seeds to trade.
Be sure to check online for other events, including movies at all three branches of Audubon.
Also, Audubon Regional Library is holding its annual Design Discovery contest for 18 and under Participants should turn in a library-themed art piece by July 15.
Needle felting demonstration
A wool needle felting demonstration with Nancy Rothschild will be held at 2 p.m., Sunday, May 11, at Old Crow Gallery, 5689 Commerce St., St. Francisville (behind Birdman Coffee)
Audubon looks at customs Regency Customs at Oakley will be held at 12:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., May 10. The event will explore the world of Audubon at Oakley Plantation in 1821 through the customs of the time. The walk and talk through the house explains such things as why being served a cold plate was bad, myths of the fireplace screen, and what is with this dueling For information, contact the park at (225) 635-3739
Home and garden event
The Feliciana Master Gardeners and St. Francisville Beautiful will hold the St Francisville Home & Garden Stroll on May 10. Proceeds from the open house, garden tours and afternoon workshops go to 4-H scholarships, school gardens and other community projects. Visit tinyurl.com/4ww7stud for tickets. Tickets are nonrefundable. A plant sale will be held from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Corbel and Farmers Market Barn. It is open to ticket holders and the public. This year’s tour invites visitors to experience six private residences situated in and around St. Francisville’s Historic District for patio and garden tours, and opportunities to step inside select homes to see inspiring floral arrangements. Participating tour sites will be
YO HO HO
Ann Bergeron, of the Granaderos y Damas de Gálvez, hands out information about her organization at the Rum Festival
Rum Festival brings history, rum to St.
BY MELINDA RAWLS HOWELL Contributing writer
The Galvez Rum Tasting Room & Gardens hosted its second Rum Festival as promised with “flavor, music and good vibes” April 26 in Jackson
West Feliciana’s
Tristen Harris competes in the Girls 100-meter dash at the Class 4A, Region 2 track meet April 30 at Brusly High School in Brusly
STAFF PHOTO BY HILARY SCHEINUK
The setting for the festivities was the inside and outside of the Spanish-style distillery Activities were spread in areas that included the spacious green lawn, flowers and seating under umbrellas in the garden area, a covered outdoor stage with more seating and
tables in the shaded, colonnaded area across the lawn.
Scheduled tastings of the three Galvez rums that are blended and bottled on site were held inside where participants were surrounded by paintings including one of historic figure Bernardo de
Francisville
Galvez. Galvez the rum, named in honor of the Spanish governor of Louisiana, is available in markets across Louisiana and online. Food items, frozen rum drinks
ä See RUM, page 2G
West Feliciana track teams win Brusly meet
BY ROBIN FAMBROUGH Staff writer
West Feliciana girls and boys track teams captured titles April 30 in the Class 4A, Region II track at Brusly High.
West Feliciana’s Tristen Harris won the 200 with a 24.96 mark.
Though West Feliciana (girls) and Cecilia (boys) claimed team titles in the meet, most were focusing on gaining top-three finishes to qualify for the LHSAA outdoor championships at LSU.
West Feliciana finished with 89 points in the girls division to edge St Thomas More (82) and Teurlings Catholic (81). Host Brusly was close at 79.
Cecilia compiled 74 points to finish ahead of Brusly (641/2) and Westgate (64) in the boys division.
The Saints were led by Harris as expected. The South Carolina track signee also won the 100
meters and long jump. Other top local performers, including West Feliciana’s Diamond Peck and Brusly’s Patrick Gales, also excelled while qualifying for the state meet.
Though Harris was a marquee attraction for West Feliciana, her jumps teammate Diamond Peck served notice that the Saints could be a threat to win both jumps events at the 4A state meet. Peck had a breakout performance, leaping 39 feet, 61/2 inches to win the triple jump. That mark ranks among the state leaders in all classifications.
“The longest jump before today was 38-3,” Peck said. “I just felt good today Each jump, I felt good.
“My goal was to go 39-1, so on my fourth jump I ran as fast as I could and I got it.”
Email Robin Fambrough at rfambrough@theadvocate.com
Foster care parents, resources struggle to keep up with need
BY CLAIRE GRUNEWALD
PHOTO BY MELINDA RAWLS HOWELL
in Jackson.
trenches a lot longer than you should,” Braun said.
Children enter foster care after having to leave their families due mainly to neglect or abuse. Allegations of neglect are often connected with poverty, and Louisiana hovers at the top of the list of states with the highest rates. In 2024, Louisiana officials received more than 52,000 abuse and neglect reports and conducted more than 21,500 investigations.
“I keep saying, ‘once I get like 10 or 15 more foster parents doing this kind of work, then I’ll be able to retire,’ “ Braun said. “But as long as there’s only 21 homes in the parish, I feel like it’s not really fair for me to throw in the towel.”
She says being perfect is not a requirement to foster
“You can be a normal person and be a foster parent. You don’t have to be extraordinary,” Braun said.
Recovering from COVID
The need for foster homes and related resources is dire statewide.
While the number of children in the foster care system has largely remained consistent over several decades, a noticeable change occurred during peak COVID years.
The rates took a nosedive during the pandemic because fewer eyes were on children — not because fewer children needed foster care, DCFS Secretary David Matlock said.
When schools reopened and masks were removed, the number needing foster care quickly bounced back, as more eyes were on victims of neglect or abuse In some parishes in the capital region and surrounding area, the demand reached record highs.
Last year East Baton Rouge Parish had the highest number of foster children in the state, with 606, a noticeable increase from 386 in 2019. In some smaller, more rural parishes around Baton Rouge, such as West Baton Rouge, Iberville, West Feliciana and Point Coupee, the numbers have more than doubled since 2019 However, at the same time, some large parishes like St Tammany, Ascension and Tangipahoa have had numbers fall below 2019 rates.
Several state social service workers and child advocates say it is hard to pinpoint an exact reason for rise and fall of cases in certain areas. Causes can range from changes in unemployment and poverty rates to ebbs and flows in child welfare awareness and more mandated reporters. Too few foster parents, volunteers
The increase was alarming because COVID had already widened the gap between the number of foster children and parents.
Joel Hooper, a manager of
DCFS foster care recruitment, said COVID hurt foster family recruitment due to lockdown or fears of catching the virus. Despite COVID concerns disappearing, recruitment has yet to fully rebound.
“We had less families coming in on the front end, but on the back end we had more families leaving the program due to similar concerns. So over time, that caught up with us,” Hooper said.
In the past two decades, the state has launched multiple foster parent recruitment initiatives. A project in the past year included hiring a new team of regional foster care recruitment and retention employees led by Hooper
Kellye Worley joined the team about a year ago and focuses on spreading awareness about the need for foster parents.
“The need for foster parents is really really huge right now,” Worley told a group of about 40 people gathered in Baton Rouge at a local child and family welfare leadership collaborative meeting. “Our foster parents are very overworked right now.”
Other resources for foster children are also stretched, often operating only off volunteers, donations and grants.
Louisiana has 18 branches of the national Court Appointed Special Advocates Association. CASA volunteers are appointed by judges to help children in the foster system. Those volunteers provide support as children go through the legal process for about a year Allison Traxler, executive director of the East Baton Rouge Parish CASA, said that before 2020, her branch had a volunteer for every child that needed one But foster care numbers have increased in the past three years.
“Since COVID a lot of the CASA programs are not being able to keep up with the number of children who are placed in foster care,” Traxler said. “We have about 120 children on our waiting list right now.”
The CASA of the 18th Judicial District Court, which covers Iberville, Point Coupee and West Baton Rouge parishes, echoed similar sentiments. The number of foster children in all three parishes more than doubled from 2019 to 2024. Executive Director Kendall Hebert said about half of the children have an appointed CASA volunteer She cited rising foster rates the newness of that CASA branch and a struggle to recruit.
Recently, CASA experienced a hit to its recruitment efforts. The U.S. Department of Justice issued hundreds of terminations of federal grant awards in late April, and the national CASA was one of the recipients Louisiana CASA Executive Director Amanda Moody says while the cut is “not detrimental to our survival” given diversified funding efforts, the $120,000 cut from
the state impacted special projects — including one for recruitment.
“That really does hurt,” she said.
Still, Louisiana CASAs had a record-breaking month of volunteers joining in March, according to Moody Retention and recruitment
Like CASA, other child welfare workers and groups are brainstorming ways to bring more people’s eyes to the foster system with costefficient solutions.
Among the challenges are low daily rates for taking in foster children — families receive an average of $19 a day per child. The state Legislature sets those rates and last increased them in 2021 They currently fall below the recommended average for Southern states.
“We need 125 more child welfare workers, more cars
we’re resource-trapped,” Matlock, the DCFS head, said recently In turn, local volunteer community collaboratives and forming support groups are prioritized. Matlock said community collaboratives like the one in Baton Rouge are to be implemented throughout the state.
Another focus is increasing faith-based collaborations, with many churches spreading the word about foster parent recruitment and urging people to become certified.
DCFS is also testing ways to improve the registration and training process for foster parents.
“We’re streamlining that and trying to make it more friendly to foster parents. We’re just making it a little more accessible,” Matlock
based in Monroe, has focused on support campaigns for its foster parents, said Colby Hennigan, a family recruiter
The private organization, created in 2015, is a therapeutic foster care program, meaning it serves children who are medically fragile or have special needs. In April, Methodist had 197 homes serving 173 foster kids across the state At the same time, DCFS recommends about 40 children per month to be homed through Methodist, according to Hennigan.
tention when it comes to foster parents. Methodist Foster
Colby Hennigan, with Louisiana Methodist Children’s Home, speaks about how the different organizations involved with foster care are collaborators rather than competitors during the Foster Care Community Collaborative event at Family Youth Service Center on April 8
STAFF PHOTOS BY JAVIER GALLEGOS
Rebecca Braun, foster mom and director of The Foster Village, poses for a picture inside of the clothing boutique where foster children and those in need can get clothing essential items and toys.
Source: Louisiana Department of Children & Family Services
said. Some organizations outside of DCFS have found success in prioritizing re-
Care, a statewide foster program