By: Grace Thompson
LSU Manship School News Service
The Louisiana Senate Health and Welfare Committee has advanced legislation aimed at strengthening oversight of early learning centers and closing critical gaps in how child-on-child abuse is investigated in those settings.
Senate Bill 41, authored by Sen. Regina Barrow, D-Baton Rouge, seeks to clarify which agencies are responsible for handling allegations of abuse among young children in early education programs. The bill also introduces stricter hiring requirements for staff at both public and private early learning centers, including criminal background checks and screenings against the state’s child abuse registry.
The legislation was propelled forward following a deeply emotional testimony from a Jefferson Parish family whose three-year-old daughter was sexually assaulted by a classmate at an unlicensed private school.
The child’s father, a member of the U.S. Army National Guard, described discovering blood in his daughter’s underwear while helping her change for gymnastics practice. She later disclosed that another child at her school had touched her inappropriately.
“We immediately sought medical help at Children’s Hospital in New Orleans,” the father told lawmakers. “The weeks that followed, my mental health would be equivalent to, if not worse than, my combat deployment to Iraq.”
The family recounted a disturbing lack of response from authorities. According to their testimony, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office declined to investigate due to the children’s ages, while the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) said the incident was a matter for law enforcement.
“Everybody is pointing fingers at each other,” the child’s mother told the committee, describing how the family had to withdraw their daughter from school and rely on out-of-state relatives for child care.
Currently, unlicensed private schools and early learning centers are not bound by the same oversight or hiring standards as those regulated by the Louisiana Department of Education. SB41 would change that, applying background check requirements and abuse registry screenings to all schools, regardless of licensing status.
“We need to get this gap closed,” Sen. Barrow said. “There is no reason this school shouldn’t be treated like any other school.”
Child ombudsman Kathleen Ritchie testified that incidents of child-on-child abuse often stem from prior trauma, and emphasized that both the alleged victim and perpetrator need access to evaluation and services.
Lawmakers on the committee expressed outrage and urgency.
“We’ve failed this child, and we need to fix this problem,” said Sen. Jay Luneau, D-Alexandria. “We’ve got to do better.”
SB41 also includes amendments to limit the scope of the registry checks to employees hired after August 1, 2018, and to exempt certified teachers from duplicative background checks already conducted through the school system.
With strong bipartisan support, the bill now advances to the full Senate for debate. If passed, it would mark a significant step in strengthening protections for Louisiana’s youngest and most vulnerable children.