Louisiana's 2026 Fact Sheet: 54,803 Hotline Reports, 2,118 Children Reunified

Each spring, Louisiana DCFS publishes a short fact sheet summarizing the year. The March 2026 edition covers calendar year 2025. Earlier editions covered the federal fiscal year, so compare with care.

The year in numbers

• 54,803 reports to the child abuse and neglect hotline
• 23,203 child protection investigations
• 7,449 children served in foster care at some point in the year; 4,559 in care on an average month
• 2,118 children reunified with their families
• 634 children adopted
• 1,013 newly certified foster homes; 1,965 open foster homes on an average month
• 2,972 families served with in-home services
• 384 young adults ages 18–21 in extended foster care
• 1,838 substance-exposed newborns identified as victims

A smaller agency

The fact sheet also notes a structural change. Acts 477 and 478 of the 2025 legislative session moved SNAP, the kinship care subsidy, cash assistance and disability determinations out of DCFS. The department now focuses on child welfare and child support.

Region by region

The fact sheet breaks most measures down across DCFS's nine regions. Orleans recorded the most hotline reports (11,094); Lafayette and Alexandria had the largest average foster care populations (663 and 654 children per month). Regional totals don't add up exactly to the statewide page for some measures, a difference DCFS doesn't explain. We publish both as printed.

See every region on the Louisiana page.