Louisiana
What Louisiana reported to the federal government about the children in its custody and the children it investigated. Where a year says not reported, that is the record.
The funnel, FFY 2024
Louisiana vs. national
What happened to reports of child maltreatment in Louisiana in federal fiscal year 2024, at each decision point. Rates are what make states comparable; raw counts mostly measure population.
| Stage | Louisiana | Rate | National |
|---|---|---|---|
| Referrals to CPSCounts: referrals | 45,104 | 42.3per 1,000 children | 59.3 |
| Screened in (became reports)Counts: referrals | 22,36549.6% of referrals | — | 47.1% |
| Screened outCounts: referrals | 22,73950.4% of referrals | — | 52.9% |
| Children investigated or given an alternative responseCounts: children | 29,975 | 28.1per 1,000 children | 40.6 |
| Child victims (substantiated or indicated)Counts: children | 8,254 | 7.7per 1,000 children | 7.2 |
| Child fatalitiesCounts: children | 31 | 2.91per 100,000 children | 2.41 |
Referrals, reports, children, and victims are four different denominators and are not interchangeable. A referral may concern more than one child; a child may appear in more than one referral; a victim is a child with a substantiated or indicated disposition. National figures are the Children's Bureau's own estimates, not sums of the state rows.
Source: Child Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS), Tables 2-3, 3-1, 3-3, 4-1
What Louisiana does not report
For the measures on this page, Louisiana reported a figure in every year covered. That is not the same as the figures being complete or comparable — see the methodology for what the federal record does not measure at all.
Maltreatment and fatalities over time (NCANDS)
Child fatalities reported to NCANDS, Louisiana, FFY2020 to FFY2024
Source: Child Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS)
KARA VerifiedChild Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS)FFY 2024Counts: child fatalities
Child maltreatment victims, Louisiana, FFY2020 to FFY2024
Source: Child Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS)
KARA VerifiedChild Maltreatment 2024 (NCANDS)FFY 2024Counts: child victims (substantiated or indicated)
Foster care (AFCARS)
| Measure | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adopted with public agency involvement | 731 | 622 | 662 | 727 | 766 | 905 | 895 | 749 | 602 | 686 |
| Entered foster care | 3,475 | 4,080 | 4,099 | 3,729 | 3,527 | 3,654 | 2,769 | 2,414 | 2,358 | 3,064 |
| Exited foster care | 3,429 | 3,613 | 3,766 | 3,715 | 3,444 | 3,458 | 3,317 | 2,752 | 2,551 | 2,635 |
| In foster care on September 30 | 3,955 | 4,329 | 4,545 | 4,461 | 4,460 | 4,562 | 3,919 | 3,542 | 3,301 | 3,682 |
| Children served in foster care | 7,384 | 7,910 | 8,293 | 8,145 | 7,904 | 8,020 | 7,237 | 6,294 | 5,852 | 6,317 |
| Termination of parental rights | 554 | 593 | 544 | 577 | 678 | 669 | 639 | 520 | 531 | 501 |
| Waiting for adoption | 961 | 1,033 | 1,220 | 1,297 | 1,378 | 1,395 | 1,337 | 1,164 | 1,041 | 973 |
Source: AFCARS state tables, FY2013 to FY2022
AFCARS 2020 rule, FFY2023 to FFY2025 (preliminary)
Collected under the AFCARS 2020 final rule, first effective FFY 2023. Counts include ages 0 to 23. Figures are preliminary estimates from submissions received by February 27, 2026, and states may still revise them. This series is not comparable with the FY 2013 to FY 2022 series, which was collected under the 1993 rule and counted a narrower population; this site does not join the two. Wyoming first submitted under the new rule for FFY 2024 and Washington for FFY 2025; earlier years for those states are shown as not reported.
| Measure | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entered foster care | 3,673 | 3,252 | 3,335 |
| In foster care on September 30 | 4,371 | 4,418 | 4,619 |
| Exited foster care | 3,019 | 3,041 | 2,970 |
Counts: children (ages 0 to 23)
Source: AFCARS Dashboard, preliminary FFY2025 estimates (No. 33)
Louisiana in the archive
What the numbers above cost, in KARA's own reporting.
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• “Since 2020, national and state test data show steep declines in foundational reading and math skills that are not bouncing back on their own. If current trends hold, by 2034 a majority of U.S. students will need remedial support, deepeni...
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- America’s Child Protection Crisis: Last Week’s Most Alarming CPS Cases and Reforms
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Each week, children are escaping brutal homes, being harmed in foster care, and caught in CPS systems that too often miss clear danger or punish families without proof. From multimillion‑dollar settlements and court battles in Texas, Washin...
- COVID + ICE RAIDS Impacting America's Schools
KARA reportingMike TikkanenFebruary 26, 2026
COVID school closures and ICE raids have combined to drive U.S. reading, math, history, and civics scores to historic lows. This post outlines national NAEP data, the states with the deepest learning loss, and what these trends mean for chi...
- The Assault on Child Protection - Part 2
KARA reportingMike TikkanenJuly 14, 2025
The combined cuts to child friendly programs will impact some states more than other. This article presents a snapshot of what different states will be experiencing. Send KARA information concerning what's happening in your state (send to i...
- Child Abuse Sad Stories (4 days in November)
KARA reportingMike TikkanenNovember 24, 2024
37% of children overall and 44% of Black children are reported to child protection services in America by the time they turn 18. (American Journal of Public Health 1.17) 7.8 million children a year are reported to child protection services.
- If I Only Had a Brain
KARA reportingMike TikkanenOctober 20, 2024
If the medical community, Children’s Defense Fund and former MN Supreme Court Chief Justice Kathleen Blatz are right, the vast majority of crime in America is the result of what happened to that person as a child.