Attorney urges law change after DCFS findings undermine child‑abuse claims in custody battles

Richard Decote, an attorney who has worked on juvenile and child‑welfare law in Louisiana for decades, urged senators to correct what he described as a recurring procedural problem: DCFS investigative findings used as dispositive evidence in family‑court custody disputes.

Decote told the Senate Committee on Women and Children that, in his experience, judges sometimes give disproportionate weight to DCFS determinations that an allegation is ‘‘unfounded’’ or ‘‘not substantiated’’ when the same family is litigating custody. He said that practice allows defense strategies that characterize protective parents as vindictive or manipulative and can result in courts awarding custody to alleged perpetrators even when other evidence—forensic interviews, medical findings or corroborating testimony—favors protection of the child.

To address the problem, Decote proposed legislation he described as a narrow, procedural fix: exclude a DCFS case finding from being admitted in family‑court custody hearings as proof that abuse did not occur. The change would, he said, allow family‑court judges to weigh the totality of evidence presented in the custody case—medical findings, validated forensic interviews, witnesses and other documentation—without treating a DCFS operational finding as dispositive.

Decote said the change would not strip DCFS of its investigatory role or its obligation to refer criminal matters to law enforcement; instead, it would reduce the incentive for litigants to use DCFS contact and reports as a litigation tactic. He told senators the idea has institutional support from some leaders who participated in the committee session and asked lawmakers to consider introducing the measure in the coming session.