In the Senate Health and Welfare Committee’s April 15, 2026 discussion of Senate Bill 265 regarding the proposed abolishment of DCFS, we heard that Louisiana is “only one of seven states that has a standalone department of children and family services.” Having followed child welfare matters across the country for several decades, that statement did not sound like an accurate summary of what we have observed. However, changes happen, so we decided to look at the structure of child welfare services in all the states.
The Center for Child Well-being reviewed the child welfare services websites of all 50 states. We gathered data about each state’s child welfare services regarding structure, governance, recent history, and recorded the URL.
We found that child welfare services are provided at two levels: county-based and state-based. We also found two organizational structures at the state level. Child welfare services at the state level are provided by an independent, standalone state agency or by a division or bureau embedded in a larger state agency. Among the county-based services, we found three structures. Some county-based services are entirely independent of state support. Some states have county-based services supported by a standalone state agency, and some states have county-based services supported by a state child welfare service embedded in a larger state department.
The county-based model is the least common. Eight states use a county-based model and among these, three states’ child welfare services are purely county-based, three are county-based with embedded agency support, and two states provide county-based child welfare services with support from an independent state child welfare agency.
The middle group comprises twenty states that provide child welfare services through a division or bureau embedded in a larger umbrella state agency.
The most common model among the states for providing child welfare services is the independent agency model, which is used by 22 of the 50 states. The majority of these independent state agencies have cabinet-level leadership reporting to governors.
Louisiana’s current structure, which provides child welfare services through the Department of Children and Family Services, is a standalone agency with a cabinet-level leader. With this structure, Louisiana is among the majority of states that have a standalone department for child and family services.
The preceding blog post is an excerpt from a paper in process, “Reinvigorating Louisiana’s Child Welfare Services: Structure, Safety, Support, and Suggestions”.
