REFORM DCFS IN LOUISIANA

When the Louisiana Legislature adjourned its 2026 session, many bills quietly faded into history. Others sparked debate, generated headlines, and then disappeared without much public attention. But one bill in particular may come to symbolize a much larger question facing our state: How long are Louisiana's leaders willing to tolerate a child welfare system that so many believe is failing our children? That question sits at the heart of Senate Bill 265, authored by Senator Re

An evidence-based examination of systematic failure, unchecked power. For years, Louisiana families have raised the same alarm—quietly at first, then in courtrooms, community meetings, and legislative hearings, and now in unmistakable unison. Child Protective Services (CPS), operating through the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), continues to fail Louisiana’s families not because its mission is flawed, but because its power is unchecked. Until meaningful, in

An evidence-based indictment of systemic failure in Louisiana Child Protective Services—and a demand for immediate oversight Across the state of Louisiana, a quiet but powerful reckoning is underway. Families, community leaders, advocates, attorneys, and increasingly judges themselves are asking a question that can no longer be dismissed as emotional or anecdotal: Is Child Protective Services—often operating under the name DCFS—failing the very people it was created to protec