| Request for an advisory opinion from Andrea Bryant, a Child Welfare Supervisor in the Foster Care Program with the Department of Children and Family Services ("DCFS"), relative to outside employment restrictions. |
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Andrea Bryant is currently employed with DCFS as a Child Welfare Supervisor in the Child Welfare Program in Webster Parish. Ms. Bryant's duties are to supervise a unit of foster care caseworkers who service parents and caretakers of children in the custody of DCFS. While Ms. Bryant develops case plans that address safety, substance abuse and mental health, her duties do not include certifying foster homes as that task falls in another division of DCFS, namely, the Home Development Unit.
Ms. Bryant would like to work part-time for Guardian Angels Place, LLC, when not working for DCFS. Guardian Angels Place operates to certify foster homes for children in the custody of DCFS, Office of Juvenile Justice, homeless children, and/or children exposed to sex trafficking.
Ms. Bryant's duties with Guardian Angels Place would be to review and approve home studies of potential caretakers. Guardian Angels Place is regulated through the Licensing Division of DCFS and contracts with the Child Welfare Division to assist in certifying foster homes, however as a non-profit corporation, it relies on grant funding and fundraising efforts to pay for foster care. Karla Venkatara, Deputy Assistant Secretary for DCFS, indicated that it is possible for Ms. Bryant, in her capacity as a Child Welfare Supervisor, to direct children for placement with Guardian Angels Place.
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La.
R.S. 42:1111C(2)(d)
prohibits a public servant and any legal entity in which the public servant
exercises control or owns an interest in excess of twenty-five percent, from
receiving any thing of economic value for services rendered from a person who:
(1) has or is seeking to obtain contractual or other business or financial
relationships with the public servant's agency; (2) conducts operations or
activities which are regulated by the public employee's agency; or (3) has
substantial
economic interests which may be substantially affected by the performance or
nonperformance of the public employee's official duty.
La. R.S. 42:1111C(1)(a)
prohibits a public servant from receiving any thing of economic value
for any service, the subject matter of which is devoted substantially to
the responsibilities, programs, or operations of the agency of the
public servant and in which the public servant has participated.
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Adopt the proposed Advisory Opinion.
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| Assigned Attorney: |
Greg Thibodeaux |
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