RS 46:285

§285. Required training for child protection and foster care workers A. No employee of the Department of Children and Family Services, office of children and family services, with direct responsibility for cases dealing with families and children after January 1, 1984, shall exercise responsibility for any cases until that employee has completed a training program consisting of at least thirty-two hours of instruction, addressing such appropriate topics as: (1) Causes and effects of child abuse and neglect. (2) Legal aspects of child protection and foster care including the legal duties of the representatives, which may consist of various methods of informing such representatives of such duties, in order to protect the constitutional and statutory rights and safety of children and families from the initial time of contact during investigation through treatment. (3) Treatment of abused and neglected children. (4) Treatment of abusive and neglectful parents. (5) Permanency planning for children. (6) Training to ensure that workers are knowledgeable in best practices for promoting collaboration with families and that they are fully aware of the extent and the limits of their legal authority and the legal rights of parents in carrying out such investigations. Training shall include legal duties of workers to protect the constitutional and statutory rights of children and families from the initial time of contact during investigation through treatment. B. All representatives or employees of the Department of Children and Family Services shall, at the initial time of contact with the individual subject to a child abuse and neglect investigation, advise the individual of the specific complaints or allegations made against the individual in a manner that is consistent with laws protecting the rights of the informant. C. Any employee hired on or after July 1, 2010, who has graduated from a Council on Social Work Education accredited program of social work certifying that the employee has completed course work and demonstrated competency in the core areas of effective child welfare practice, including successful completion of a child welfare specific internship, shall be deemed to have met the thirty-two hour training requirement specified in Subsection A of this Section and may begin exercising responsibility for cases under agency supervision. The Department of Children and Family Services in partnership with the Louisiana University Child Welfare Workforce Alliance shall define the core competencies, which shall include but not be limited to the competencies set forth in Subsection A of this Section, of effective child welfare practice. The Department of Children and Family Services shall be specifically authorized to promulgate rules and regulations, pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act, which may be necessary to effect the provisions of this Section. D. Within six months following the commencement of responsibility for cases, each employee designated in Subsection A of this Section shall complete a training program consisting of thirty-two hours of job-related instruction in addition to the training required in Subsection A of this Section. E. Notwithstanding the provisions of Subsections A and D of this Section, employees of the office of children and family services shall be permitted to exercise responsibility for cases on an emergency basis prior to the completion of required training if the unavailability of these employees pending such training would result in the agency's inability to meet the needs of abused or neglected children or to satisfy legal mandates, provided that appropriate training may not be delayed beyond sixty days. F. Within the second and third full year of employment, each child protection caseworker and supervisor or foster care caseworker or supervisor as designated in Subsection A of this Section, shall receive thirty-two hours of in-service training annually, relevant to providing child welfare services. G. Following completion of three full years of child welfare casework experience, each employee as designated in Subsection A of this Section, shall receive at least twenty hours of in-service training annually, relevant to providing child welfare services. H. The Department of Children and Family Services shall provide such training through its own personnel, partnerships with universities, or by contracting with outside persons or agencies. I. The Department of Children and Family Services may continue incentive pay schedules established by the Department of State Civil Service to compensate social work personnel with selected graduate degrees at a higher rate than other persons without such specialized advanced degrees as provided by the Department of State Civil Service and the State Civil Service Commission. Added by Acts 1983, No. 710, §1; Acts 1990, No. 432, §1, eff. July 18, 1990; Acts 1995, No. 696, §1, eff. June 21, 1995; Acts 2004, No. 729, §1; Acts 2010, No. 76, §1, eff. June 1, 2010; Acts 2010, No. 877, §3, eff. July 1, 2010; Acts 2018, No. 206, §5.