§ 4903. Responsibility of Department
The Department may expend, within amounts available for the purposes, what is necessary
to protect and promote the welfare of children and adults in this State, including
the strengthening of their homes whenever possible, by:
(1) Investigating complaints of neglect, abuse, or abandonment of children, including
when, whether, and how names are placed on the Child Protection Registry.
(2) Providing aid and services to the extent necessary for the purpose of permitting children
to remain in their own homes.
(3) Supervising and controlling children committed to it by a court.
(4) Providing substitute parental care and custody for a child upon application of his
or her parent, guardian, or any person acting in behalf of the child, when after investigation
it is found that the care and custody will be in the best interests of the child.
The acceptance of a child by the Department shall not abrogate parental rights or
responsibilities, but the Department may accept from the parents temporary delegation
of certain rights and responsibilities necessary to provide care and custody for a
period of up to six months under conditions agreed upon by the parents and the Department.
Upon a stipulation approved by the Family Division of the Superior Court, the period
may be extended for additional periods of up to six months each, provided that each
extension is first determined by the parties to be necessary, and that it is in the
best interests of the child.
(5) Providing financial aid to persons who were committed to the Department at the time
they attained the age of majority and who are completing an educational, vocational,
or technical training program designed to equip them for gainful employment.
(6) Providing aid to certain adopted children who prior to their adoption were in the
care and custody of the Department.
(7) Providing aid to a child in the permanent guardianship of a relative if the child
was in the care and custody of the Department and was placed in the home of the relative
for at least six months prior to the creation of the guardianship. (Added 1967, No. 147, § 5; amended 1971, No. 206 (Adj. Sess.); 1975, No. 19; 1981, No. 243 (Adj. Sess.), § 3; 2005, No. 174 (Adj. Sess.), § 119; 2009, No. 97 (Adj. Sess.), § 2; 2021, No. 20, § 334; 2023, No. 154 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. September 1, 2024.)