§ 9-28-103. Division of Children and Family Services — Powers and duties
(a) The Division of Children and Family Services of the Department of Human Services shall perform the following functions and have the authority and responsibility to: (1) Coordinate communication between various components of the child welfare system; (2) Provide services to dependent-neglected children and their families; (3) Investigate reports of child maltreatment and assess the […]
§ 9-28-104. Best interest of the child
(a) The General Assembly recognizes that children are defenseless and that there is no greater moral obligation upon the General Assembly than to provide for the protection of our children and that our child welfare system needs to be strengthened by establishing a clear policy of the state that the best interests of the children […]
§ 9-28-105. Preference to relative caregivers for a child in foster care
In all custodial placements by the Department of Human Services in foster care or adoption, preferential consideration shall be given to an adult relative over a nonrelated caregiver, if: (1) The relative caregiver meets all relevant child protection standards; and (2) It is in the best interest of the child to be placed with the […]
§ 9-28-106. Religious preference — Removal of barriers to inter-ethnic adoption
(a) The Department of Human Services and any other agency or entity that receives federal assistance and is involved in adoption or foster care placement shall not: (1) Discriminate on the basis of the race, color, or national origin of either the adoptive parent, foster parent, or the child involved; or (2) Delay the placement […]
§ 9-28-107. Notice when juvenile transferred to custody of department
(a) The Department of Human Services shall exercise due diligence to identify and provide notice to all adult grandparents, all parents of a sibling of the juvenile where the parent has legal custody of the sibling, and other adult relatives of a juvenile transferred to the custody of the department. (b) The notice provided under […]
§ 9-28-108. Placement of juveniles — Definitions
(a) As used in this section: (1) “Fictive kin” means a person selected by the Division of Children and Family Services who: (A) Is not related to a child by blood or marriage; and (B) Has a strong, positive, and emotional tie or role in the: (i) Child’s life; or (ii) Child’s parent’s life if […]
§ 9-28-109. Notice of move in foster care placement
(a) The policy of the State of Arkansas is that each child placed in the custody of the Department of Human Services should have stable placements. (b) (1) To reduce the number of placements of children in foster care, if a foster parent requests a foster child be removed from his or her home at […]
§ 9-28-110. Smoking in the presence of foster children
The Department of Human Services shall not place or permit a child to remain in a foster home, unless it is in the best interest of the child to be placed in or to remain in the foster home, if the foster parent: (1) Or any other member of the household smokes; or (2) Allows […]
§ 9-28-111. Case plans — Definition
(a) The Department of Human Services shall be responsible for developing case plans in all dependency-neglect cases and in family-in-need-of-services cases when custody is transferred to the department under § 9-27-328. The case plan shall be: (1) (A) Developed in consultation with the juvenile’s parent, guardian, or custodian and, if appropriate, the juvenile, the juvenile’s […]
§ 9-28-112. Foster children and educational issues
(a) The Department of Human Services and school districts shall work together for the best interest of any child placed in the custody of the department. (b) By the next business day after the department exercises a seventy-two-hour hold on a child or a court places custody of a child with the department, the department […]