BATON ROUGE - State Senator Regina Barrow has been calling for change at the Department of Children and Family Services for years.

Prior to the start of the 2026 legislative session, Barrow filed a bill to completely abolish the department, but it didn't progress in the legislature.

"That came as a result of my frustration, and certainly I have to say that I'm not happy with the direction that we are going in," Barrow said.

Another bill authored by Barrow, now heading to the governor's desk, creates some significant changes within DCFS, like adding a law enforcement liaison that would be housed within the department.

"I'm going to tell you what still concerns me is the fact that instead of having one liaison in each region, we only have one for the entire state," Barrow said.

In its original state, Barrow says the bill included stronger parameters for preventative measures rather than responsive measures.

"We are now just kind of reactive mode," she said.

After a child dies, or is in critical condition and is confirmed by DCFS as a result of abuse or neglect, the case will be sent off for review.

"Not one person is now just making the decision; it's going to a critical review committee, and so they're going to look at each case, and that case cannot be signed off on or closed without everybody actually signing off on it. So that is one thing that is very strong," Barrow said.

The committee includes a team of employees from DCFS, the Department of Health, state police, a member of the coroners association, the children's advocacy center, a representative of the Department of Justice, and the Ombudsman.

"You may have all seen the story that was in the news recently about how the staff at DCFS feel very overwhelmed and very overworked," State Representative Stephanie Berault said.

Last week, Two On Your Side spoke with current and former employees of DCFS about the case overloads and management failures at the department.

Berault says employees are currently required to go to schools anytime there is a report of a child-on-child assault situation.

That would change with this piece of legislation, in hopes of reducing some of the workload on the department.

"We can change that from shall to may, and the reason for that is because there was a tremendous increase in the workload in going to the schools to address things that didn't need to rise to the level of involving DCFS," Berault said.

While Barrow says this bill does not address all her concerns, it's a step in the right direction.

If the bill is signed by Governor Landry, Senator Barrow says they will continue to be involved with DCFS to see if the changes implemented are working, and if they are not, they will evaluate where the shortcomings are.