La. Admin. Code tit. 67 § V-7103

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 11, November 20, 2024

Section V-7103 - Authority

A. Legislative Provisions

1. The state of Louisiana, Department of Children and Family Services, is charged with the responsibility of developing and publishing standards for the licensing of residential homes.

a. The licensing authority of the Department of Children and Family Services is established by R.S. 46:1401 et seq. and R.S. 46:51 which mandate the licensing of all residential homes. A residential home is any place, facility, or home operated by any institution, society, agency, corporation, person or persons, or any other group to provide full-time care, 24 hours per day, for more than four children, who may remain at the facility in accordance with R.S. 46:1403.1, who are not related to the operators and, except as provided in this Subparagraph, whose parents or guardians are not residents of the same facility, with or without transfer of custody. However, a child of a person who is a resident of a residential home may reside with that parent at the same facility. The age requirement may be exceeded as stipulated in R.S. 46:1403.1 which states that, "...notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, including but not limited to R.S. 46:1403(1), a child housed at a residential home may stay at such home for a period not to exceed six months beyond his eighteenth birthday to complete any educational course that he began at such facility, including but not limited to a general education development (GED) course, and any other program offered by the residential home". In addition, the R.S. 46:1403.1(B) further stipulates that, "Notwithstanding Subsection A of this Section and any other provision of law to the contrary, including but not limited to R.S. 46:1403(1), a child housed at a residential home that does not receive Title IV-E funding pursuant to 42 USC 670 et seq., may remain at such home until his twenty-first birthday to complete any educational course that he began at such facility, including but not limited to a General Education Development course, and any other program offered by the residential home."

2. In accordance with HCR 71 of the 2020 Legislative Session, license renewal fees due from July 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021 are hereby suspended for existing residential homes located in Louisiana as part of Louisianas response to and as a way to help businesses reopen and recover from COVID-19.

B. Penalties. As mandated by R.S. 46:1421, whoever operates as a specialized provider as defined in R.S. 46:1403, without a valid license issued by the department shall be fined not less than $1,000 for each day of such offense.

C. Waiver Request

1. The secretary of the department, in specific instances, may waive compliance with a standard, as long as the health, safety, and well-being of the staff and/or the health, safety, rights, or well-being of residents or children of residents are not imperiled. Standards shall be waived only when the secretary determines that the economic impact is sufficient to make compliance impractical.

2. Application for a waiver shall be made in writing and shall include:

a. a statement of the provisions for which a waiver is being requested; and

b. an explanation of the reasons why the provisions cannot be met and why a waiver is being requested.

3. The request for a waiver will be answered in writing and approvals will be maintained on file by the requesting provider and the department. A waiver is issued at the discretion of the secretary and continues in effect at her pleasure. It may be revoked by the secretary at any time, either upon violation of any condition attached to it at issuance, upon failure of any of the statutory prerequisites to issuance of a waiver (i.e., the cost of compliance is no longer so great as to be impractical or the health or safety of any staff or any child of a resident or resident is imperiled), or upon her determination that continuance of a waiver is no longer in the best interest of the department.

La. Admin. Code tit. 67, § V-7103

Promulgated by the Department of Social Services, Office of Community Service, LR 36:805 (April 2010), amended by the Department of Children and Family Services, Division of Programs, Licensing Section, LR 39:67 (January 2013), Amended by the Department of Children and Family Services, Licensing Section, LR 43246 (2/1/2017), Amended LR 47230 (2/1/2021), effective 3/1/2021.

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 36:477 and R.S. 46:1401 et seq.