Art. 1173.  Preplacement home study; requirements

A.  The department shall promulgate rules and regulations for preplacement home studies in private adoptions in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act.  The rules and regulations promulgated pursuant to this Article shall not be inconsistent with the following:

(1)  The rules and regulations governing the licensing of adoption agencies relative to preplacement home studies, specifically adoptive home studies, notification regarding application, access to records, updating home studies, review procedures, and adoptive parents' records, to the extent that such provisions are compatible with procedural laws governing private surrenders and adoptions.

(2)  Such study shall be conducted by a social worker in the employ of a licensed adoption agency, licensed social worker, licensed professional counselor, licensed psychologist, medical psychologist, licensed psychiatrist, or licensed marriage and family therapist, except that a prospective adoptive parent who is domiciled outside the state shall obtain a preplacement home study in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 2 of Title XVI.

(3)  A certification for adoption issued after a favorable preplacement home study shall be completed or brought current within twelve months next preceding the placement of a child with the adoptive parents.

B.  The sheriff and department shall conduct and accord priority to requests for a criminal records check for all federal and state arrests and convictions and validated complaints of child abuse or neglect, respectively, in this or any other state of each prospective adoptive parent, and shall provide a certificate indicating all information discovered or that no information has been found, all in accordance with the applicable rules and regulations promulgated by the department.

C.  The department shall promulgate and submit for approval such rules and regulations governing placement home studies in private adoptions in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act no later than October 1, 1991, and such rules and regulations shall become effective upon its publication in the Louisiana Register.

Acts 1991, No. 235, §12, eff. Jan. 1, 1992; Acts 1999, No. 1309, §9, eff. Jan. 1, 2000; Acts 2001, No. 486, §5, eff. June 21, 2001; Acts 2003, No. 567, §1; Acts 2008, No. 583, §1; Acts 2009, No. 194, §1, eff. June 30, 2009; Acts 2009, No. 251, §13.