2006 Louisiana Laws - RS 46:285 — Required training for child protection and foster care workers

§285.  Required training for child protection and foster care workers

A.  No employee of the Department of Social Services, office of community services, hired for the position of child protection caseworker or supervisor or foster care caseworker or supervisor 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.

(7)  All representatives or employees of the Department of Social 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.

B.  Within six months following the commencement of responsibility for cases, each such 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.

C.  Notwithstanding the provisions of Subsections A and B of this Section, employees of the office of community 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.

D.  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.

E.  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.

F.  The Department of Social Services shall provide such training through its own personnel or by contracting with outside persons or agencies.

G.  The Department of Social 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.