US CODE: Title 42,622. State plans for child welfare services

TITLE 42 > CHAPTER 7 > SUBCHAPTER IV > Part B > subpart 1 > § 622

§ 622. State plans for child welfare services

(a) Joint development

In order to be eligible for payment under this subpart, a State must have a plan for child welfare services which has been developed jointly by the Secretary and the State agency designated pursuant to subsection (b)(1) of this section, and which meets the requirements of subsection (b) of this section.

(b) Requisite features of State plans

Each plan for child welfare services under this subpart shall—

(1) provide that

(A) the individual or agency that administers or supervises the administration of the State’s services program under subchapter XX of this chapter will administer or supervise the administration of the plan (except as otherwise provided in section 103(d) of the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980), and

(B) to the extent that child welfare services are furnished by the staff of the State agency or local agency administering the plan, a single organizational unit in such State or local agency, as the case may be, will be responsible for furnishing such child welfare services;

(2) provide for coordination between the services provided for children under the plan and the services and assistance provided under subchapter XX of this chapter, under the State program funded under part A of this subchapter, under the State plan approved under subpart 2 of this part, under the State plan approved under the State plan approved ^[1] under part E of this subchapter, and under other State programs having a relationship to the program under this subpart, with a view to provision of welfare and related services which will best promote the welfare of such children and their families;

(3) provide that the standards and requirements imposed with respect to child day care under subchapter XX of this chapter shall apply with respect to day care services under this subpart, except insofar as eligibility for such services is involved;

(4) provide for the training and effective use of paid paraprofessional staff, with particular emphasis on the full-time or part-time employment of persons of low income, as community service aides, in the administration of the plan, and for the use of nonpaid or partially paid volunteers in providing services and in assisting any advisory committees established by the State agency;

(5) contain a description of the services to be provided and specify the geographic areas where such services will be available;

(6) contain a description of the steps which the State will take to provide child welfare services and to make progress in—

(A) covering additional political subdivisions,

(B) reaching additional children in need of services, and

along with a description of the State’s child welfare services staff development and training plans;

(7) provide, in the development of services for children, for utilization of the facilities and experience of voluntary agencies in accordance with State and local programs and arrangements, as authorized by the State;

(8) provide that the agency administering or supervising the administration of the plan will furnish such reports, containing such information, and participate in such evaluations, as the Secretary may require;

(9) provide for the diligent recruitment of potential foster and adoptive families that reflect the ethnic and racial diversity of children in the State for whom foster and adoptive homes are needed;

(10) provide assurances that the State—

(A) since June 17, 1980, has completed an inventory of all children who, before the inventory, had been in foster care under the responsibility of the State for 6 months or more, which determined—

(i) the appropriateness of, and necessity for, the foster care placement;

(ii) whether the child could or should be returned to the parents of the child or should be freed for adoption or other permanent placement; and

(iii) the services necessary to facilitate the return of the child or the placement of the child for adoption or legal guardianship;

(B) is operating, to the satisfaction of the Secretary—

(i) a statewide information system from which can be readily determined the status, demographic characteristics, location, and goals for the placement of every child who is (or, within the immediately preceding 12 months, has been) in foster care;

(ii) a case review system (as defined in section 675 (5) of this title) for each child receiving foster care under the supervision of the State;

(iii) a service program designed to help children—

(I) where safe and appropriate, return to families from which they have been removed; or

(II) be placed for adoption, with a legal guardian, or, if adoption or legal guardianship is determined not to be appropriate for a child, in some other planned, permanent living arrangement; and

(iv) a preplacement preventive services program designed to help children at risk of foster care placement remain safely with their families; and

(C)

(i) has reviewed (or within 12 months after October 31, 1994, will review) State policies and administrative and judicial procedures in effect for children abandoned at or shortly after birth (including policies and procedures providing for legal representation of such children); and

(ii) is implementing (or within 24 months after October 31, 1994, will implement) such policies and procedures as the State determines, on the basis of the review described in clause (i), to be necessary to enable permanent decisions to be made expeditiously with respect to the placement of such children;

(11) contain a description, developed after consultation with tribal organizations (as defined in section 450b of title 25) in the State, of the specific measures taken by the State to comply with the Indian Child Welfare Act [25 U.S.C. 1901 et seq.];

(12) contain assurances that the State shall develop plans for the effective use of cross-jurisdictional resources to facilitate timely adoptive or permanent placements for waiting children;

(13) contain a description of the activities that the State has undertaken for children adopted from other countries, including the provision of adoption and post-adoption services; and

(14) provide that the State shall collect and report information on children who are adopted from other countries and who enter into State custody as a result of the disruption of a placement for adoption or the dissolution of an adoption, including the number of children, the agencies who handled the placement or adoption, the plans for the child, and the reasons for the disruption or dissolution.

[1] So in original.

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