§448. Emergency assistance information and referral

A. As used in this Section:

(1) "Office of children and family services" shall mean the office of children and family services, Department of Children and Family Services, state of Louisiana.

(2) "Emergency assistance" shall mean any service, food, clothing, shelter, money grant, or any other assistance available to people who find their ability to obtain the necessities of life threatened by fire, flood, death, or other sudden and necessitous circumstances.

(3) "Governmental agency" shall mean any political subdivision department, office, agency, board, corporation, or other instrumentality funded in whole or in part by local, state, or federal funds that provides some form of emergency assistance in this state.

(4) "Private agency" shall mean any department, office, agency, board, corporation, or other instrumentality that provides some form of emergency assistance in this state, but shall not include any private agency that chooses not to take referrals or discriminates in their assistance on the grounds of race.

B. The office of children and family services shall gather through its local offices information on all governmental and private agencies in each parish as to the type of assistance each agency can and will provide and as to what eligibility requirements, if any, these agencies apply to their assistance.

C. The office of children and family services shall designate an office in each parish which will aid people seeking emergency assistance, either in person or by telephone, to identify what assistance, if any, the person can obtain. The office of children and family services shall publicize in each parish the availability of this information.

D. Each office will report at the end of each calendar year to the assistant secretary of the office of children and family services, the total number and type of emergency assistance requests it has received and the number and type of emergency assistance requests for which no agency provides assistance in that area. The reports shall be available to the public on request.

E. The services provided pursuant to this Section shall be funded from such monies as are already provided for the office of children and family services, and to this end, shall be deemed not to require additional personnel or appropriations.

Added by Acts 1979, No. 695, §1; Acts 2013, No. 220, §20, eff. June 11, 2013; Acts 2014, No. 791, §17.