85% of La. population is in recovery mode

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Here’s a sobering statistic: 85 percent of Louisiana’s population — in 56 out of 64 parishes — is in recovery of some sort from natural disasters since March.
That was part of the data poured out Thursday to the Senate Select Committee on Women and Children. Representatives from the Department of Children and Family Services, the Louisiana Department of Health, the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management, the Governor’s Office of Women’s Policy and the Office of the Attorney General.
State Sen. Regina Barrow, D-Baton Rouge, was the only lawmaker on the six-person committee present for the meeting held a day after the end of the 10-day special session.
“It was a very intense special session,” Barrow said when asked why she was the only senator to show up. “Some of (the lawmakers) started to get sick.” The absent members of the committee were Senators Beth Mizell, R-Franklinton; Yvonne Colomb, D-Baton Rouge; Sharon Hewitt, R-Slidell; Fred H. Mills, Jr., R-New Iberia; and Karen Carter Peterson, D-New Orleans
All presenters, many who work directly with mental health, domestic abuse and housing issues for families affected by these disasters, stressed the financial needs to provide emotional support in Louisiana’s affected communities.
Natural disasters and family law attorney Sandie McCarthy-Brown also detailed the legal complexities plaguing women and children after natural disasters hit, giving advice on how to best navigate through the justice system.
One example: homeowners evicting renters so they could rent to tenants able to pay higher rent for temporary shelter. They also cited some flooded-out families with children still living in their cars. Proctor said calls to domestic violence hotlines had an immediate spike within a month after the August flood.
Barrow said she could personally empathize with adverse situations.. Women have to be nurturers for their households and “constants” to their children. “When (women) are stressed, it creates an additional stress on the family.”
Barrow mentioned a story one of her constituents told her about a friend who rekindled a relationship with an ex-boyfriend during the August 2016 flood so she could feel safe with a male presence.
OWP Executive Director Shanta Proctor said sometimes women use sexual currency as a survival method. “We can’t turn a blind eye on the women of our state.”
Department of Child and Family Services Deputy Secretary Terri Ricks said Louisiana should look for how disaster relief aid is handled elsewhere in the U.S., an idea with which Barrow enthusiastically agreed.
“We have to be more creative about getting funding and financing from other parts of the nation,” Ricks said. “Fundraising is a great way going forward.”
After the August 2016 flood, family services verified the whereabouts of 1,666 foster children in 21 disaster parishes. The department now looks to get involved in assisting the autism community, even though the agency has never received the funds for such a thing.
Capital Area Human Services Executive Director Jan Kasofsky also said they had to put their desire for pop-up mental health services across the state on hold until more federal funding comes their way. Kasofsky said the program opened its doors during the August flood and took personal cuts to pay their staff to make it happen.
The Department of Health representative Jim Hussey noted that 100 crisis counselors throughout Louisiana have treated 1,800 disaster survivors.