Louisiana

Facilities in Louisiana

Residential facilities providing religious, behavioral, and mental health treatment to children exist in all 50 states. Some of these facilities are known to be part of the Troubled Teen Industry, while others have not yet been verified. Any facility where children live and receive care requires additional oversight. This directory helps communities monitor local programs and advocate for accountability.

Reporting abuse in Louisiana

Louisiana's child protection hotline explicitly covers abuse and neglect inside licensed residential and treatment facilities, not only in family homes, so it is the right call for something that happened in a program. Its counseling board, by contrast, will not accept an anonymous complaint at all unless the documents you send with it plainly show a breach of law on their own.

Time limits in Louisiana: a general guide

This was correct as far as we could tell when we checked it on 28 September 2026. Laws on time limits change often, sometimes every legislative session, so some of what follows may have been updated since. It is a starting point, not legal advice: please check with a lawyer before relying on any date here. A time limit on a lawsuit or a criminal charge is also not a time limit on telling someone, and most of the places listed below will still take a report.

Time limits for abuse of a child often run from the survivor's 18th birthday, or from when they came to understand what happened, rather than from the day the program closed. Many states have lengthened them, removed them for child sexual abuse, or reopened claims that had already expired. A criminal charge, a lawsuit and a licence complaint each have their own time limit, so one having passed does not necessarily mean the others have.

Lawsuits

Physical abuse or injury: Two years from the day of the injury for a delictual (tort) claim, including battery, false imprisonment and negligence, for injuries on or after July 1, 2024. Injuries before July 1, 2024 fell under the old one-year period. Injuries from a crime of violence also have two years. La. Civ. Code art. 3493.1; La. Civ. Code art. 3493.3
If it happened before you turned 18: Louisiana does not pause the clock for children in general: prescription runs against minors, so a parent or guardian must sue within the normal period. But a claim for physical abuse of a minor that caused permanent impairment, permanent physical injury or scarring never expires, and neither does a claim against someone convicted of a crime against the child. La. R.S. 9:2800.9(A); La. Civ. Code art. 3468
If the program was run by or for the government: Less certain Louisiana has no general advance notice-of-claim requirement for suits against the state or local governments; the normal two-year delictual period applies, but service on the government defendant must be requested within 90 days of filing suit or the suit can be dismissed. La. R.S. 13:5107(D)
Child sexual abuse: Louisiana has no civil SOL for CSA, trafficking, or CSAM claims against all defendants. A 3-year revival window is open until June 14, 2027 for all previously expired claims against any type of defendant. CHILD USA's summary

Criminal charges

Physical child abuse: Less certain Cruelty to juveniles: four years (six years if the child was eight or younger, or for second degree cruelty causing serious injury). When the victim was under 18, the clock does not start until the victim turns 18. La. C.Cr.P. arts. 572, 573(3); La. R.S. 14:93, 14:93.2.3
Assault: Less certain Four years for aggravated battery and other felonies not necessarily punished at hard labor; six years for felonies that must be punished at hard labor. Misdemeanor assault or battery: two years. La. C.Cr.P. art. 572(A); La. R.S. 14:34
Child sexual abuse: CSA: There is no SOL for aggravated and forcible rape, an SOL of age 48 for other felonies, and an SOL of 2 years from the offense for certain misdemeanors, with a limited DNA rule. Trafficking: The SOL for trafficking is age 48. CSAM: The SOL for CSAM violations is age 48. CHILD USA's summary

The injury, assault and physical abuse lines are our reading of the statutes linked, as they stood on 28 September 2026. The child sexual abuse lines are CHILD USA's summary as it stood on 28 September 2026; their page may be more current than ours. In them SOL means statute of limitations, CSA child sexual abuse, and CSAM child sexual abuse material. "Less certain" marks a line where the law is unclear or where our reading has not been confirmed, so please treat it with extra care. Exceptions, court rulings and the details of what happened can all change which time limit applies, and some of these may be longer or shorter for you than they look here. CHILD USA's statute of limitations tracker, updated as each state changes its law. A lawyer can tell you which time limit applies to you, and many offer a free first consultation.

The therapist's licensing board

Holds the individual clinician's licence and can suspend or revoke it.

Louisiana Licensed Professional Counselors Board of Examiners

Multiple professions

Receives complaints against licensed professional counselors, provisional licensed professional counselors, and licensed and provisional marriage and family therapists, and disciplines their licences through its Disciplinary Committee.

Use this whenAn LPC, PLPC, LMFT or PLMFT in Louisiana.

HowUse the Board's online complaint form. Include your contact details.

Anonymous complaints are not accepted unless the documentation you provide clearly shows a violation of law by itself. The administrator first checks whether the person is within the Board's jurisdiction at all.

Louisiana State Board of Examiners of Psychologists

Psychologist

Licenses and disciplines psychologists in Louisiana, and exists in statute to protect the public from unauthorised, unqualified and improper practice of psychology.

Use this whenA licensed psychologist in Louisiana, or somebody practising psychology without authorisation.

HowSubmit a complaint through the Board's portal.

The agency that licenses the program

Inspects the facility itself and can cite, fine, suspend or close it.

Louisiana DCFS Licensing Section (Residential Care)

Licenses child residential facilities and child placing agencies in Louisiana and enforces the Child Care Facilities and Child Placing Agencies Licensing Act. It has revoked licences and sought injunctions against unlicensed providers.

Use this whenA child residential facility. Louisiana defines a complaint broadly: any allegation that someone is breaching the standards, or acting or failing to act in a way that harms the health, safety, rights or welfare of a child living there.

HowContact the Licensing Section. It aims to inspect every residential licensing complaint within 30 days.

Louisiana publishes a list of every currently licensed facility, so it is worth checking whether a program holds a licence at all.

225-342-4350 Licensing staff, 8:00am to 4:30pm weekdays except legal holidays.
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Law enforcement and legal channels

Child protection, the Attorney General, and the criminal side.

Louisiana Child Protection Hotline

The statutory report line, run by the Department of Children and Family Services, which is mandated to receive and investigate reports of child abuse and neglect - including abuse or neglect occurring in licensed DCFS or Department of Health residential and treatment facilities.

Use this whenA child at a Louisiana program, including abuse, neglect, sexual abuse and juvenile sex trafficking.

HowCall. It is open every hour of every day of the year, and all calls are confidential.

1-855-452-5437 855-4LA-KIDS. 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
File a complaint
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Oversight and advocacy

Bodies with a right to investigate, and advocates who can act for you.

Disability Rights Louisiana

Louisiana's Protection and Advocacy agency, with federal authority to investigate abuse and neglect of people with disabilities in facilities, a right of access to them, and free legal advocacy.

Use this whenA Louisiana program where the young person has a disability or a mental health diagnosis.

HowContact the intake line.

1-800-960-7705 Main line 504-522-2337 voice/TDD.
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National reporting channels, and the same list for other states