Louisiana Children’s Code 603.1 – Required education; reporting child abuse
Terms Used In Louisiana Children's Code 603.1
- Abuse: means any one of the following acts that seriously endanger the physical, mental, or emotional health, welfare, and safety of the child:
(a) 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. See Louisiana Children's Code 603
- Child: means a person under eighteen years of age who, prior to juvenile proceedings, has not been judicially emancipated under Civil Code Article 366 or emancipated by marriage under Civil Code Article 367. See Louisiana Children's Code 603
- Department: means the Department of Children and Family Services. See Louisiana Children's Code 603
- 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, welfare, and safety is substantially threatened or impaired. See Louisiana Children's Code 603
- Person: means any individual, partnership, association, agency, or corporation, and specifically shall include city, parish, or state law enforcement agencies, and a parish or city school board or a person employed by a parish or city school board. See Louisiana Children's Code 603
- Teaching or child care provider: is a ny person who provides or assists in the teaching, training, and supervision of a child, including any public or private teacher, teacher's aide, instructional aide, school principal, school staff member, bus driver, coach, professor, technical or vocational instructor, technical or vocational school staff member, college or university administrator, college or university staff member, social worker, probation officer, foster home parent, group home or other child care institutional staff member, personnel of residential home facilities, a licensed or unlicensed day care provider, or any individual who provides such services to a child in a voluntary or professional capacity. See Louisiana Children's Code 603
A. Every person graduating from any teacher preparation program in Louisiana shall have had in his curriculum instruction on the requirements of and how to report suspected child abuse cases pursuant to Article 601 et seq., as well as instruction on how to identify the signs and symptoms of child neglect and abuse, including sexual abuse, in order to receive his teacher certification.
B. Teaching or child care providers as defined by Article 603 shall complete an online training course provided by the Department of Children and Family Services between June first and August thirty-first annually. A record of completion of the course by the teaching or child care provider shall be provided to and retained by each entity at which the teaching or child care provider is employed. The entity at which the teaching or child care provider is employed shall retain a list of all teaching or child care providers who have not complied with the training requirements provided in this Article.
Acts 2003, No. 769, §1; Acts 2020, No. 272, §1, eff. June 11, 2020.