Sec. 2. A child welfare program may be established and funded by the department for any of the following purposes:

(1) Protecting and promoting the welfare of children in a community who are, or are likely to be, at risk of becoming homeless, neglected, or abused due to lack of adequate or appropriate parental support or supervision, in order to reduce the likelihood that the children will become wards of a juvenile court or the department.

(2) Preventing, remedying, or assisting in the solution of problems that may result in the neglect, abuse, exploitation, or delinquency of children.

(3) Preventing unnecessary separation of children from their families by identifying family problems, assisting in the resolution of family problems, and preventing the breakup of families whenever prevention of child removal is possible and desirable.

(4) Providing services targeted to the assistance of children who are developmentally or physically disabled and their families, for the purposes of prevention of potential abuse, neglect, or abandonment of those children, and enabling the children to receive adequate family support and preparation to become self-supporting to the extent feasible.

(5) Providing family preservation services or family support services (both as defined in 42 U.S.C. 629a) for families and children who are not currently receiving individually designed services provided or funded by the department through an open juvenile court child in need of services or delinquency case.

(6) Providing child welfare substance abuse treatment services for families and children who have an open child welfare or delinquency case with the juvenile court.

As added by P.L.146-2008, SEC.570. Amended by P.L.243-2017, SEC.7.