Resource Testimonies/Comments
Resource
FY26 Budget Testimony: Committee of the Whole
Children’s Law Center’s Chief Executive Officer, Judith Sandalow, submitted written testimony to the Committee of the Whole regarding the FY26 Local Budget Act and the Budget Support Act.
Each year, Children’s Law Center attorneys serve as guardians-ad-litem for several hundred children in foster care and protective supervision – over half of all children in the care and custody of the Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA). We also represent many relative caregivers of children in CFSA custody and parents trying to avoid having their children enter foster care. Thus, we know both the need for and value of the Office of the Ombudsperson for Children because we see firsthand how children in foster care and their families and caregivers struggle to navigate the child welfare system on their own. We are deeply concerned by the Mayor’s decision once again to defund the Office and repeal the legislation establishing this critical Office. We are asking that the Council fully restore funding to the Office of the Ombudsperson for Children and strike the repeal language from the Budget Support Act.
Our testimony to the Committee of the Whole focuses on the Office of the Ombudsperson for Children, but also points to our many other written testimonies that speak more extensively about topics including Access to Justice grants, School-Based Behavioral Health funding, crisis response for youth, and effective housing assistance for families.