56-204A. SERVICES FOR CHILDREN. The state department is hereby authorized and directed to maintain, by the adoption of appropriate rules and regulations, activities which, through social casework and the use of other appropriate and available resources, shall embrace:

(a) Protective services on behalf of children whose opportunities for normal physical, social and emotional growth and development are endangered for any reason;

(b) Services for unmarried parents, which may be necessary to assure or provide adequate care, and to safeguard the rights and promote the well-being of such parents and their infants;

(c) Services on behalf of children in their own homes to help overcome problems that may result in dependency, neglect or delinquency, and to strengthen parental care and supervision; and

(d) Undertaking care of, and planning for children including those committed to the state department by the courts.

Such rules and regulations shall provide for:

(1) Receiving from any source and investigating all reasonable reports or complaints of neglect, abuse, exploitation or cruel treatment of children;

(2) Initiation of appropriate services and action where indicated with parents or other persons for the protection of children exposed to neglect, abuse, exploitation or cruel treatment;

(3) Filing pleadings with appropriate courts in cases requiring court action;

(4) Arrangements for prenatal care of unmarried expectant mothers and payment for such care when necessary for the well-being of the parents and infant;

(5) Counseling with unmarried parents in relation to their plans for their children, including assisting parents to reach a decision concerning relinquishment through an understanding of what would be best for the child and themselves;

(6) Services and assistance for minor unmarried parents;

(7) Services on behalf of children in their own homes to strengthen parental care and supervision;

(8) Specifying the conditions under which payment shall be made for the purchase of services and care for children, such as medical, psychiatric or psychological services and foster family or institutional care, group care, homemaker service, or day care;

(9) Procedures to be observed in planning and caring for or placing for adoption a child committed to the state department following the termination of his parent-child relationship;

(10) The establishment of appropriate administrative procedures for the conduct of administrative reviews and hearings as required by federal statute for all children committed to the department and placed in out of home care.

History:

[56-204A, added 1963, ch. 325, sec. 2, p. 936; am. 1989, ch. 217, sec. 1, p. 526; am. 1989, ch. 218, sec. 6, p. 531; am. 1992, ch. 341, sec. 5, p. 1036.]