Social worker renews fight to care for special needs kids
March 18, 2026
New Orleans, Louisiana; March 18, 2026: A New Orleans social worker filed a state court lawsuit today challenging a Louisiana regulation that bars her from providing respite care to children with special needs. Ursula Newell-Davis, a 25-year veteran of social work with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in the field, alleges that applying Louisiana’s Facility Need Review (FNR) requirement to her in-home respite care business violates Louisiana’s Right to Earn a Living Act.
“The Right to Earn a Living Act requires that occupational regulations be necessary and narrowly tailored to a legitimate government interest—a standard Louisiana’s Facility Need Review cannot meet in Ursula’s case,” said Dean McGee, an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation. “Ursula has a calling to serve her community, and she has the credentials to back it up. The only thing standing in her way is a government permission slip—one that has nothing to do with her qualifications.”
Louisiana’s FNR process requires aspiring care providers to prove to the government that their services are “needed” before entering the market. State officials denied Newell-Davis’ first application despite her evidence of rising juvenile crime rates, calls from city officials for early intervention, and studies showing respite care improves outcomes for children.
Newell-Davis then challenged the law in federal court, but courts upheld it under the rational basis test. In 2023, while her federal case was pending, Louisiana passed the Right to Earn a Living Act, which limits the state’s ability to impose burdensome regulations on people’s livelihoods. Newell-Davis filed a second application, this time with over one hundred pages of evidence, but it was also denied. Her new lawsuit alleges the FNR regulation violates the Right to Earn a Living Act.
Pacific Legal Foundation represents Newell-Davis free of charge. The case is Ursula Newell-Davis & Sivad Home and Community Services, LLC v. Bruce Greenstein, et al.
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About Pacific Legal Foundation
Pacific Legal Foundation is a national nonprofit law firm that defends Americans threatened by government overreach and abuse. Since our founding in 1973, we challenge the government when it violates individual liberty and constitutional rights. With active cases in 34 states plus Washington, D.C., PLF represents clients in state and federal courts, with 18 wins of 20 cases litigated at the U.S. Supreme Court.