BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana Legislative Auditor flagged the Department of Children and Family Services for over 307 cases involving a lack of communication, decisions regarding child placement, and other policy concerns.

Most frequently reported issues include 123 reports of lack of communication by DCFS case worker, 60 cases of insufficient information provided by a DCFS case worker, 47 cases of misinformation provided by a DCFS case worker, 31 reports of relative placement concerns, 24 reports of a failure to place a child after being discharged from a mental health facility, 18 cases of siblings being seperated, and 14 reports of policy concern.

Communication-related concerns accounted for 230 reported complaints, including lack of communication, insufficient information and misinformation. Complaints ranged from a case worker's failure to return repeated phone calls to inaccurate information in case records. 

In 2025, the Child Ombudsman's Division received 31 complaints regarding DCFS's decisions regarding child placement. According to Children's Code Art 672.3, DCFS must conduct a search for adult relatives within 30 days of a child's removal and must notify the family of the child's circumstances and options for placement.

According to the Child Ombudsman's Division, there were no required notifications documented.  

The Child Ombudsman's Division also received 24 complaints of children remaining in mental health hospitals after being clinically cleared for discharge. The children, who no longer met medical criteria for inpatient care, remained hospitalized due to the absence of safe, appropriate discharge options. 

Of the 24 complaints, 16 foster children were placed in a psychiatric hospital, where some foster children remained for months after being discharged due to DCFS not placing the children in either a home setting or a "step down" facility in a timely manner. 

Other policy compliance concerns included the failure to interview a mandatory reporter, improper disclosure of confidential records, unauthorized disclosure of a reporter's identity due to a system error and improper emergency placement without required checks.