La. Admin. Code tit. 67 § V-7303

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

Section V-7303 - Authority-Foster Care, Adoption, Transitional Placing

A. Legislative Provisions

1. The Specialized Provider Licensing Act, Act 286 of 1985 as amended (R.S. 46:1401 et seq.) is the legal authority under which the department prescribes minimum standards for the health, safety, and well-being of children placed in foster care and adoption. The rules are in LAC 67:V., Subpart 8, Chapter 73.

2. In accordance with R.S.46:1403.1, notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, a child in foster care may stay in foster care until his twenty-first birthday to complete any educational course that he began while in foster care including but not limited to a General Education Development course.

3.Public Law 96-272, the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1978 and Act 429 of 1981 authorizes the Louisiana Legislature to make permanency planning for children in foster care a matter of federal and state law and public social policy.

4. Public Law 103-382, the Multiethnic Placement Act of 1994, as amended by Public Law 104-188, the Interethnic Placement Act, the U.S. Constitution, and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 provide that an entity which receives federal financial assistance and is involved in adoption or foster care placements may not discriminate on the basis of the race, color, or national origin of the adoptive or foster parent or the child involved. Providers receiving federal funds may not use standards related to income, age, education, family structure and size, or ownership of housing to exclude groups of prospective parents on the basis of race, color, or national origin, where these standards are arbitrary or unnecessary or where less exclusionary standards are available.

5. Providers shall comply with the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq. (ADA) and regulations promulgated pursuant to the ADA, 28 C.F.R. Parts 35 and 36 and 49 C.F.R. Part 37; §504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, 29 U.S.C. § 794, and regulations promulgated pursuant thereto, including 45 C.F.R. Part 84, which includes the right to receive services in the most integrated setting appropriate to the needs of the individual; obtain reasonable modifications of practices, policies, and procedures where necessary (unless such modifications constitute a fundamental alteration of the provider's program or pose undue administrative burdens); receive auxiliary aids and services to enable equally effective communication; equivalent transportation services; and physical access to a provider's facilities.

6. Providers shall comply with the requirements of Children's Code 1167 et seq. with regard to adoptions.

7. 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 child placing agencies located in Louisiana as part of Louisianas response to and as a way to help businesses reopen and recover from COVID-19.

B. Facilities Requiring a License

1. In accordance with R.S. 46:1403, a child-placing agency means any institution, society, agency, corporation, facility, person or persons, or any other group engaged in placing children in foster care or with substitute parents for temporary care or for adoption, or engaged in assisting or facilitating the adoption of children, or engaged in placing youth in transitional placing programs, but shall not mean a person who may occasionally refer children for temporary care.

2. Any agency applying for a child-placing agency license in Louisiana shall have an office and staff in Louisiana.

3. Any out-of-state agency placing a child in Louisiana shall have a license issued by the state in which the main office is located and either make placements in Louisiana in cooperation with the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) and a child-placing agency licensed in Louisiana or have an office and staff in Louisiana with a Louisiana child-placing agency license.

4. All child-placing agency locations shall be licensed; satellite and branch offices are not permitted.

C. Exemptions

1. In accordance with R.S. 46:1415, all care given without charge, shall be exempt from provisions of R.S. 46:1401 et seq.

2. In accordance with R.S.46:1404, child placing agencies within the Department of Children and Family Services shall be exempt from the provisions of R.S. 46:1401 et seq. The department is authorized and mandated to perform its child-placing functions in accordance with the standards promulgated by the department for licensed child-placing agencies.

D. Penalties

1. 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 per day for each day of such offense.

E. Waiver Request

1. In accordance with R.S. 46:1407(E), the secretary of the department, in specific instances, may waive compliance with a standard, upon determination that the economic impact is sufficiently great to make compliance impractical, as long as the health and well-being of the staff or children and youth are not imperiled.

2. A request for a waiver shall be submitted by a provider to DCFS Licensing Section staff. A request for a waiver shall provide the following information: the standard to be waived, an explanation of the reasons why the standard cannot be met, and why a waiver is being requested, including information demonstrating that the economic impact is sufficiently great to make compliance impractical.

3. All requests for a waiver will be responded to in writing by the DCFS Secretary. A copy of the waiver decision shall be kept on file at the child-placing agency and presented to licensing staff during all licensing inspections, if requested.

4. A waiver is issued at the discretion of the Secretary and continues in effect at his/her pleasure. The waiver may be revoked by the secretary at any time, either upon violation of any condition attached to it at issuance, or upon occurrence of any resolutory or suspensive condition affecting the waiver, or 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/youth is imperiled), or upon his/her determination that continuance of the waiver is no longer in the best interest of the DCFS.

La. Admin. Code tit. 67, § V-7303

Promulgated by the Department of Children and Family Services, Division of Programs, Licensing Section LR 37:820 (March 2011), amended by the Department of Children and Family Services, Division of Programs, Licensing Section, LR 39:67 (January 2013), Promulgated by the Department of Children and Family Services, Licensing Section, LR 45352 (3/1/2019), effective 4/1/2019, Amended LR 47230 (2/1/2021), effective 3/1/2021.

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 46:1407(D).