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M o n d ay, M ay 19, 2025
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Safety net expanding for older foster youths Number of those aging out of system was highest in 2024
BY CLAIRE GRUNEWALD Staff writer
Every year, more than 100 18-year-olds age out of Louisiana’s foster care system, meaning they have no permanent home or source of care, and they often face devastating challenges. Samantha Morris-LaCour, 26, bounced around foster homes before living in a Natchitoches group home until she turned
18. She left with no support system, and a relationship that brought on abuse and sex trafficking defined early adulthood for her, she said. Mikey Doucet, 36, was no stranger to couch surfing, beginning when he was a child in west Louisiana. One word he uses to describe his foster experience: “traumatic.” Keionna Johnson, 25, believes she would have taken her own life if she hadn’t found help in Ham- Doucet mond. Now, the former foster child works for two state groups that work with children in the system “to give them hope.” The 200 18-year-olds who aged out of foster care in 2024 marked the state’s highest total in six years, according to the Louisiana Department of Children and Family
Services. Rapides, East Baton Rouge and Jefferson parishes have the highest numbers in the state for 18-year-olds leaving foster care without a permanent home. Comparatively, the three parishes also have some of the highest rates of children in foster care. In recent years, the state has launched new initiatives to expand foster care and create programs to help clients who turn 18. In addition, nonprofits and other organizations have been working to expand the safety net for those young adults. Many former foster youth have seen progress, but others still struggle.
PHOTO By MOLLy BAHLINGER
Keionna Johnson, 25, a resident of the H20 Ministry, a home for women who have aged out of foster care, now works for two state groups that ä See FOSTER, page 5A work with children in the system ‘to give them hope.’
‘THERE’S GOLD IN THE DIRT’
2025 LEGISLATURE REVENUE
Lawmaker pushes state tax cuts
Economists say the numbers don’t add up BY TYLER BRIDGES Staff writer
STAFF PHOTOS By BRAD BOWIE
Construction is underway on Helix Academy, a charter school that plans to open this fall, behind Our Savior’s Church in Opelousas. When the church bought 135 acres for $2.9 million in 2014, it not only had space for a permanent home. It set aside a large portion of the open farmland for commercial development.
Church’s vision sparking commercial growth along I-49 BY ADAM DAIGLE
Acadiana business editor When the Rev. Eugene Reiszner instructed a team member years ago to find the best piece of land in Opelousas to build a permanent home for Our Savior’s Church, he found it at the Harry Guilbeau exit along Interstate 49. They got a handshake deal with the owner. But then there was a big problem. Others were looking at what was then a blank slate of farmland on the city’s southern edge. A major convenience store
chain jumped in and offered more than what the church offered for less acreage. Politicians, citing the fact that churches do not pay property taxes, were trying to get between the church and the seller, Reiszner recalled. “He is out here mowing one day, and one politician comes up, brings him a bottle of whiskey and an envelope,” he said. “To this day, I still don’t know what was in that envelope. He said, ‘Do not sell that to the church.’”
The Rev. Eugene Reiszner, pastor at Our Savior Church in Opelousas, says interest has been growing for the church-owned land on Harry ä See VISION, page 6A Guilbeau Road along Interstate 49.
With little public attention, state legislators are moving forward with a package of bills that would cut taxes and attempt to offset the revenue loss by freeing up money that has flowed into a state savings account. The sponsor of the three bills, Rep. Julie Emerson, RCarencro, has said the numbers would balance out. Emerson But the Legislature’s economists are forecasting that the proposals — if approved during the final three weeks of the legislative session and by the public through changes to the state constitution next year — would leave lawmakers with a massive shortfall of $590 million in 2027 when they meet to pass the budget and later have to face voters.
ä See TAX CUTS, page 5A
Biden diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer BY JOSH BOAK Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, his office said Sunday. Biden was seen by doctors last week after urinary symptoms and a prostate nodule were found. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer on Friday, with the cancer cells
ä See BIDEN, page 6A
WEATHER HIGH 88 LOW 76 PAGE 10C
Classified .....................4B Deaths .........................4B Nation-World................2A Comics-Puzzles .....7C-9C Living............................5C Opinion ........................2B Commentary ................3B Metro ...........................1B Sports ..........................1C
100TH yEAR, NO. 323