State of Louisiana in the interest of B.T.

STATE OF LOUISIANA
COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT

STATE OF LOUISIANA IN THE NO. 2019 CW 1542
INTEREST OF B. T.

NOVEMBER 21, 2019

In Re: Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services,
applying for supervisory writs, Juvenile Court, Parish
of East Baton Rouge, No. 105413.

BEFORE : McDONALD, THERIOT, AND CHUTZ, JJ.

STAY DENIED; WRIT GRANTED. The juvenile court's orders
rendered at status conferences on November 7, 2019 and November
18, 2019 and signed on November 19, 2019, which ordered the
Department of Children and Family Services to sign an enrollment
form for the child to enlist in the military, are reversed.
“Guardianship” means the judicial placement of a child under the
duty and authority of a guardian to make decisions in matters
having a permanent effect on the life and development of the
child as set forth in Article 719. La. Ch. Code art. 116(5.1),
To establish guardianship, a motion for guardianship must be
filed, a home study of the proposed guardian must be Submitted,
a hearing must be held, and a written order including the
findings upon which the order is based must be entered. See La.
Ch. Code arts. 720, 721, and 722. “Legal custody” means the
right to have physical custody of the child and to determine
where and with whom the child shall reside; to exercise the
rights and duty to protect, train, and discipline the child; the
authority to consent to major medical, psychiatric, and surgical
treatment; and to provide the child with food, shelter,

education, and ordinary medical care, all subject to any
residual rights possessed by the child’s parents. La. Ch. Code
art. 116{12). Uniess the court specifies otherwise, a guardian

shall exercise the rights and responsibilities of legal custody
and shall have the authority to consent to the child’s marriage,
to consent to his enlistment in the armed forces of the United
States, and to make other decisions concerning the child, except
the right to consent to the child’s adoption. La. Ch. Code art.
VIS{(A). Where the Department of Children and Family Services
has not been shown to be the guardian of the child, in this
matter, it does not have authority to consent to the child's
enlistment in the armed forces of the United States.

WRC

COURT OF APPEAL, FIRST CIRCUIT

wll Reel

DEPUTY CLERK OF COURT
FOR THE COURT