FY25 Budget Testimony: DC Health
Children’s Law Center Policy Attorney Leah Castelaz testified before the DC Council Committee on Health at the DC Health budget hearing. Our testimony asks the Council to ensure no cuts are made home visiting and HealthySteps, two critical programs that continue to expand and change. Investment in programs like HealthySteps and home visiting are essential to support better short-term outcomes, like improving perinatal health, and future outcomes, like creating pathways to success in education. Our testimony also expresses support for the increase in funding for licensing staff at the Health Regulation and Licensing Administration and asks the Committee to work with DC Health to dedicate one or two of these positions to support the District’s behavioral health care professional boards.
Learn about Our Behavioral Health Work
Although tens of thousands of DC children have behavioral health needs, only a fraction of them actually receive timely supports and services. At Children’s Law Center, we know that many of the children we work with – including children in the foster care system or receiving special education services – only need our help because their needs have gone unaddressed.