INTRODUCTION:
The Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) is the state agency designated to administer and supervise the administration of child welfare services in Louisiana. DCFS provides comprehensive social services and child welfare programs:
- Centralized Intake (receipt of reports of child abuse and/or neglect)
- Child Protective Services
- Family Services (in home preventive and preservation services)
- Foster Care
- Services to Parents (for parents of children in foster care)
- Home Development (services to foster and adoptive parents including recruitment, certification and retention of foster/adoptive families)
- Adoption
- Adoption Subsidy
- Extended Adoption Subsidy
- Adoption Petition
- Guardianship Subsidy
- Extended Guardianship Subsidy
- Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children
- Kinship Navigator
- Transitioning Youth/Independent Living
- Extended Foster Care
The services are provided through administration of several federal programs and grants: • Stephanie Tubbs Jones Child Welfare Services Program (Title IV-B subpart 1)
- MaryLee Allen Promoting Safe and Stable Families (Title IV-B subpart 2)
- Title IV-E of the Social Security Act
- Chafee Foster Care Independence Program
- Education and Training Voucher Program
- Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act Grant
The organizational structure of DCFS includes an administrative office in Baton Rouge, 9 regional offices and 48 parish offices. Services are available in all 64 parishes of Louisiana, with some parish offices covering more than one parish.