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Louisiana

Who is mandated to report?

Are all health clinicians mandated to report?

  • Yes.

Who else is a mandated reporter?

  • Residents, interns, hospital staff, nursing aids
  • Mental health/social service practitioners
  • Teaching or child care providers
  • Mediators
  • Parenting coordinators
  • Court-appointed special advocates

For more information, refer to Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse and Neglect at the Child Welfare Information Gateway.

When is the reporting duty triggered?

What is the standard?

  • A report is required when:
    • A reporter has cause to believe that a child’s physical or mental health or welfare is endangered as a result of abuse or neglect.
    • A commercial film or photographic print processor has knowledge of or observes any film, photograph, videotape, negative, or slide depicting a child, whom he or she knows or should know is under age 17, that constitutes child pornography.
    • A physician has cause to believe that a newborn was exposed in utero to an unlawfully used controlled dangerous substance, as determined by a toxicology test upon the newborn, without the consent of the newborn’s parents or guardian. Positive test results shall not be admissible in a criminal prosecution.
    • A physician observes symptoms of withdrawal in a newborn or other observable and harmful effects in his or her physical appearance or functioning that the physician has cause to believe are due to the chronic or severe use of alcohol by the mother during pregnancy.

For more information, refer to Mandatory Reporters of Child Abuse and Neglect at the Child Welfare Information Gateway.

What must be reported?

How does state law define child abuse and neglect for reporting purposes?

  • Mandated reporters must report when physical or mental health or welfare is endangered as a result of abuse or neglect as those terms are defined in Article 603 of the Children’s Code and any case law and other legal guidance interpreting this statute.
    • “Abuse” means any one of the following acts which seriously endanger the physical, mental, or emotional health and safety of the child:
    • The infliction, attempted infliction, or, as a result of inadequate supervision, the allowance of the infliction or attempted infliction of physical or mental injury upon the child by a parent or any other person.
    • The exploitation or overwork of a child by a parent or any other person, including but not limited to commercial sexual exploitation of the child.
    • The involvement of the child in any sexual act with a parent or any other person, or the aiding or toleration by the parent, caretaker, or any other person of the child's involvement in any of the following:
      • Any sexual act with any other person.
      • Pornographic displays.
      • Any sexual activity constituting a crime under the laws of this state.
      • A coerced abortion conducted upon a child.
      • Female genital mutilation as defined by R.S. 14:43.4.
    • “Neglect” means the refusal or unreasonable failure of a parent or caretaker to supply the child with necessary food, clothing, shelter, care, treatment, or counseling for any injury, illness, or condition of the child, as a result of which the child's physical, mental, or emotional health and safety is substantially threatened or impaired. Neglect includes prenatal neglect. Consistent with Article 606(B), the inability of a parent or caretaker to provide for a child due to inadequate financial resources shall not, for that reason alone, be considered neglect. Whenever, in lieu of medical care, a child is being provided treatment in accordance with the tenets of a well-recognized religious method of healing which has a reasonable, proven record of success, the child shall not, for that reason alone, be considered to be neglected or maltreated. However, nothing herein shall prohibit the court from ordering medical services for the child when there is substantial risk of harm to the child's health or welfare.

Are child molestation, sexual abuse, rape, statutory rape, incest, intimate partner violence, sexual exploitation and/or trafficking of a minor reportable as child abuse or neglect and if so, how are they defined and what is reportable?

For the most current definitions of these terms, refer to Reporting Child Abuse/Neglect at the Department of Children and Family Services webpage.

How to report:

What is the method of reporting?

  • Reports of child abuse or neglect in which the abuser is believed to be a parent or caregiver, a person who maintains an interpersonal dating or engagement relationship with the parent or caregiver, or a person living in the same residence with the parent or caregiver as a spouse, whether married or not, shall be made immediately to the department through the designated state child protection reporting hotline telephone number.
  • Notwithstanding any claim of privileged communication, any mandatory reporter who has cause to believe that a child's physical or mental health or welfare is endangered as a result of abuse or neglect or that abuse or neglect was a contributing factor in a child's death shall submit a report. If the initial report was made orally, it shall be followed by a written report within 5 days.

For more information, refer to Making and Screening Reports of Child Abuse and Neglect at the Child Welfare Information Gateway.

What is the timeline in which to report?

  • The initial report is to be made immediately. If the initial report was made orally, it shall be followed by a written report within 5 days.

For more information, refer to Making and Screening Reports of Child Abuse and Neglect at the Child Welfare Information Gateway.

To whom are reports made?

  • Reports of child abuse or neglect in which the abuser is believed to be a parent or caregiver, a person who maintains an interpersonal dating or engagement relationship with the parent or caregiver, or a person living in the same residence with the parent or caregiver as a spouse, whether married or not, shall be made immediately to the department through the designated state child protection reporting hotline telephone number.
  • Reports in which the abuse or neglect is believed to be perpetrated by someone other than a caregiver, and the caregiver is not believed to have any responsibility for the abuse or neglect, shall be made immediately to a local or state law enforcement agency. Dual reporting to both the department through the designated state child protection reporting hotline telephone number and the local or state law enforcement agency is permitted.

For more information, refer to Making and Screening Reports of Child Abuse and Neglect at the Child Welfare Information Gateway.

State/County Hotline?

  • Louisiana Child Abuse and Neglect Hotline (24 hours a day, 7 days a week)
  • 1-855-452-5437

Confidentiality:

What federal confidentiality laws apply to health information collected during a Title X visit?

  • Title X regulations 42 CFR 59.11
  • HIPAA 45 CFR 164.502

Is there an exception in federal confidentiality law that allows a clinician to comply with mandatory child abuse reporting laws?

  • Yes.