Lost children of New Orleans still desperately sought

US President George Bush and first lady Laura Bush arrive at a US Naval Air Station in New Orleans today, to check progress on the clean-up operation. Picture / Reuters

NEW ORLEANS - Louisiana officials today said they were stepping up efforts to find 51 children in the state's foster care system still missing in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, as President George Bush arrived in town to inspect the area's recovery effort.

State child welfare officials said it was still uncertain whether the children -- among the nearly 2000 foster children displaced by Katrina -- were safe and sound, or had perished in the storm that ravaged the Gulf coast six weeks ago.

Marketa Garner Gautrau, assistant secretary for the Louisiana Department of Community Services, said the agency has sought help from a national missing children's group and would start hiring private investigators to look for any foster child still missing at the end of this week.

"We're prepared to do that, but we're not there yet," Gautrau said.

Katrina's quick jog north caught the Louisiana's child welfare system flat-footed, and Gautrau said case workers were unable to determine the whereabouts of all the children in state care.

The problem was exacerbated because nearly 600 case workers were forced to flee.

The hurricane also damaged offices, washing away case files in a state that lacks a centralised database to keep track of children in its care.

Louisiana has asked the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children to refocus its efforts on locating foster children. The Virginia-based nonprofit group has been working with Louisiana and other Gulf states hit by the storm. 

The group said today it had succeeded in reuniting all the children in storm shelters who had been separated from their families during the escape from Katrina.

"However, more than 2000 cases remain of children separated from or whose whereabouts are unknown to close family members," the group said in a statement.

Finding foster children is more difficult because state confidentiality laws prevent the publication of their pictures.

Gautrau said calls are trickling in daily from foster families who have moved to other areas and have found jobs and schools for their children.

"I don't believe we have anyone out there trying to get away with something," she said.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said today he plans to ask the President for help in supporting the city, which is quickly running out of money, over the next three months.

President Bush, on his eighth trip to Gulf Coast since it was devastated by Hurricane Katrina on August 29, was to meet the mayor for dinner today.

- REUTERS