Louisiana
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Pre-Service Training

All prospective families must be certified as foster parents to adopt a child in care, as well as complete an online 24-hour preservice training called A Journey Home. Relative or kinship families taking placement of a child known to them need to complete a 6.5-hour in-person training, and those families seeking a guardianship subsidy must also attend the 6.5-hour training.

Services Offered Through the State’s Post-Permanency Support Program

Post-permanency services are administered by the Department for Children and Family Services, Child Welfare Division (DCFS).

Services include:

Assessments are available through the Tulane University Medical School, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Services for DCFS children, youth, and families involved in complex cases, both before and after finalization. Comprehensive Assessment and Treatment Team (T-CATT) services are for complex cases and problematic situations, behavioral concerns, and issues related to permanency. Assessments are done in person.

Clinical pre- and post-permanency services are also available through the Tulane University Medical School, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Services. Treatment includes working with adoptive parents, relative caregivers, and fictive kin. Tulane uses trauma-informed, strength-based, and attachment-based practices to aid recovery from abuse and neglect. The following services are available:

  • Child Parent Psychotherapy (CPP)
  • Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT)
  • Preschool Posttraumatic Treatment (PPT)
  • Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC)
  • Attachment Video-Feedback Intervention (AVI)
  • Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI®)
  • Circle of Security
  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
  • Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)

State subsidy workers respond to questions from families and help them find needed resources in their community, including adoption-competent mental health providers who accept Medicaid. The state also emails a quarterly newsletter with information and resources.

If Medicaid clinicians are unavailable, families can access a list of adoption-competent clinicians approved under a continuous vendor services agreement. These clinicians offer up to 12 sessions per year, available both pre- and post-permanency, for adoptive and guardianship families.

For more information, visit https://www.dcfs.louisiana.gov/page/adoption

Geographic Area Covered

Subsidy workers are available to provide support statewide. Tulane’s pre- and post-permanency supports are available virtually when needed to ensure statewide access. For counseling referrals, there are areas with fewer adoption-competent therapists. The more rural areas of the state may not have the same access, so telehealth is used when possible. There are currently about 20 clinicians who have received Training for Adoption Competency (TAC) training, and that list continues to expand.

Eligible Population for the Overall Post-Permanency Program

  • All families who adopted from the state’s foster care system

  • All families who adopted from foster care in o ther states, territories, or tribes

  • All families who have guardianship of a child from foster care

Accessibility

DCFS is committed to ensuring that staff are trained and policy and procedures are inclusive, diverse, and equitable.

Outreach and Engagement

DCFS sends adoptive and guardianship families quarterly emails containing adoption subsidy brochures, a newsletter with resources and directories, and contact information for regional subsidy workers. This information is also distributed to regional offices for sharing with families. Adoption workers review these resources with families when they are completing subsidy paperwork and finalization.

How the Post-Permanency Program Is Operated

  • Through a contract or grant with one private agency

  • By other state staff

Notes About Who Provides Which Service(s)

Pre- and post-permanency assessments and clinical services are provided through a contract with Tulane University.

DCFS divides the state into regions and each region has staff who provide adoptive and guardianship families with information and referral services.

Adoption/Guardianship Assistance/Subsidy Review and Changes

Title IV-E subsidy agreements must be renewed every five years, while non-IV-E subsidy agreements require annual renewal with documentation of income and family size. Special board rates must be renewed yearly or as needed based on changes in circumstances. Starting July 1, 2024, all new subsidy agreements will no longer be income-based.

Adoptive and guardianship families can request changes to their adoption or guardianship assistance agreement anytime the child’s needs or family’s circumstances change.

 

Tracking Adoption/Guardianship Discontinuity

Upon finalization of adoption or guardianship, the child or youth retains the same case number while the adoptive name and adoptive parents’ information are updated. After finalization, the family is assigned a subsidy worker who follows them through the child’s 18th birthday and beyond, if applicable. DCFS tracks adoption and guardianship discontinuity, including characteristics like age, race, geographic area, and the child’s diagnoses or challenges. DCFS also produces annual reports on non-DCFS adoptions, which are tracked in a different system. If a child returns to care, the case is referred to the Transitional Youth Unit if applicable and is assigned a specialized youth worker who manages their case to facilitate quick reunification/permanency.

Post-Permanency Program Spending (FY 2023)

  • under $500,000

Funding Sources for the Post-Permanency Program (FY 2023)

Adoption/Guardianship Incentive Program Payments (AIPP)

 

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