The Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services told the Senate committee on Sept. 6 that reports of child abuse and juvenile trafficking have risen in recent years and described administrative changes intended to improve investigations, referrals and victim services.

DCFS Assistant Secretary Brett Hanneman and Director of Medical Services Rebecca Hook outlined data for the committee and described new tools and procedures that have gone into effect this year. They said the department has implemented alternative response options for some school-based child-on-child sexual‑behavior reports, strengthened fatality reporting and clarified language in findings to use “substantiated” and “unsubstantiated” rather than older terms.

Nut graf: DCFS officials said procedural changes and more staff are required to address growing caseloads, and the department told legislators it plans a second intake shift and other steps to reduce backlog and standardize investigations across regions.

Numbers and referrals

Hanneman told the committee that, nationwide, DCFS accepted 23,000 investigations in the most recent fiscal year and that child sexual‑exploitation investigations accounted for about 7.5% of investigations between state fiscal years 2021 and 2025. He said that for juvenile trafficking, DCFS had 806 reports through Aug. 2025 and sent 779 notifications to the Louisiana State Police; roughly half of those referrals led to a parallel DCFS investigation because of parental or caretaker culpability.

“Those trafficking calls get referred out,” Hanneman said. “But in a good portion of those cases, we are also co‑investigating from a parental or caretaker culpability standpoint.”

Act 409, alternative response and school cases

DCFS leaders described Act 409 changes (effective Aug. 1) that expand the agency’s responsibilities and permit an alternative response for child-on-child incidents that occur in schools when parental culpability is not present. Hanneman said the department had opened 43 alternative response cases through August 2025, including two in school settings, and stressed that if parental culpability is later found an alternative response is converted to a full investigation.

“The alternative response numbers reflect only those cases without parental culpability,” Hanneman said.

Centralized intake and the second shift

DCFS told the committee it receives a large number of referrals through its 24‑hour hotline and online portal and is adding a second intake shift to reduce backlog. Hanneman said the department will add 53 new intake staff on an evening shift to cover weeknights, weekends and holidays; those workers were in training at the time of the briefing. The aim is to reduce the number of late‑evening crisis calls assigned to already‑overburdened daytime staff.

Training, multidisciplinary coordination and gaps

DCFS officials acknowledged gaps in training for mandatory reporters and differences in local multidisciplinary‑team process. “It is our hope and belief that … we won’t see so many turnarounds and we retain staff who are willing to work but also able to balance their home life,” Hanneman said, describing the second‑shift plan. Hook and Hanneman told the committee they are exploring standardized protocols for forensic interviews and stronger coordination with child advocacy centers (CACs) and law enforcement to reduce duplicate interviews and trauma for children.

Child advocacy centers and care coordination

Crystal Mitchell, executive director of the Louisiana Alliance of Children’s Advocacy Centers, told the committee that the state has 14 CACs and that 11 were fully accredited by the National Children’s Alliance. She said CACs perform the recorded forensic interviews that investigators and prosecutors use and that CACs accept only referrals from law enforcement or DCFS.

“Once we receive that referral, then of course we’re scheduling that forensic interview,” Mitchell said, adding that a forensic interview must be observed by an investigative agency for the record to feed prosecutions and child‑protection work.

What lawmakers asked for

Committee members asked DCFS to provide details about the referral matrix used with DCFS’s intake, the split between priority‑1 (imminent harm) and other investigations, and how DCFS validates human‑trafficking indicators before sending referrals to law enforcement. Several senators urged expanded training for medical providers and other mandatory reporters to ensure earlier reporting and clearer evidence sharing with police.

Ending: Implementation questions remain

DCFS officials told lawmakers the department has immediate administrative changes under way (alternative response, intake shift, language changes in findings) and longer‑term priorities for interagency protocols, CAC expansion and funding for placements and specialized medical/behavioral resources. Senators said they expect follow‑up materials and indicated the committee will press for consistency across regions and improved training for mandated reporters.

Quotations in this article come from recorded committee testimony by Brett Hanneman and Rebecca Hook (Department of Children and Family Services) and Crystal Mitchell (Louisiana Alliance of Children’s Advocacy Centers).