The Office of Community Services provides for the public child welfare functions of the state and administers the federal grants for services directed at meeting the special needs of Louisiana's most vulnerable citizens.

Programs and Services

• Adoption Reunion Registry - a registry established by the Department of Social Services to facilitate voluntary contact between adult adoptees, their birth parents and/or siblings.
• Adoption Services - The OCS Adoption Program seeks adoptive home placement of children who are in DSS custody and are legally free for adoption.
• Adoption Petitions - Adoption petition services provide for staff to conduct investigations
• Child Protection Investigation - Investigation of child abuse and neglect and provision of short term concrete services to children and families.
• Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) - sometimes referred to as Performance and Quality Improvement (PQI), is a process of creating an environment in which management and, workers strive to create constantly improving quality.
• Family Services - Family Services are social services, which are provided to families and children in their own homes in order to address problems of abuse/neglect and promote the safety of the children within the family unit.
• Foster Care Services - Foster Care is a protective service provided to children in the custody of the Department of Social Services. It provides substitute, temporary care (e.g. foster family home, residential care facility, etc.) for a planned period of time when a child must be separated from his own parents or relatives because of abuse and/or neglect
• Foster Parents  - Foster parenting is an opportunity to make a difference in a child’s life during a time of crisis.  Foster parents help children by providing a home that provides them with stability, supervision, consistency and affection. Foster and adoptive parents provide temporary and permanent placements for children who cannot remain in their own homes. 
• Louisiana Children's Trust Fund - The Louisiana Children's Trust Fund serves as a catalyst for abuse and neglect prevention efforts in Louisiana. Among its responsibilities are the creation of the plan for prevention of child abuse, presentation of its annual review to the Governor and Legislature, and the funding of community-based child abuse and neglect programs to public and non-profit organizations through its grant process.    

Louisiana Adoption Resource Exchange (LARE)

• View Children waiting for Adoption

Please contact LARE at 1-800-259-3428.

Adoption Reunion Registry - The Louisiana Adoption Reunion Registry is a registry established by DSS to serve adult adoptees over the age of 18 and birth parents of adopted adults. If both the adoptee and one birth parent register a "match" between the adoptee and birth parents may result in a reunion. Those seeking to find adopted siblings may also register.

Homeless Services encompasses several services and programs, all designed to help meet the needs of the homeless. They are listed below:

• Emergency Shelter Grants Program (ESGP) - Using federally allocated funds, grant amounts are awarded to localities for assistance to shelter facilities serving homeless persons.
• Directory of Homeless Shelters
• Directory of Soup Kitchens

Plans and Reports

OCS Directory

Social Services Block Grant Intended Use Reports 

Louisiana Healthy Marriage "Knapsack" Project

Annual Progress & Service Report (APSR) Yearly

Consolidated Child & Family Services Report

Program Improvement Plan (PIP)

Program Improvement Plan Quarterly Reports

OCS Strategic Plan