§ 9-16-102 — Definition

As used in this chapter, "family preservation services" means services for children and families that are designed to help families at risk or in crisis, including adoptive and extended families, and include: (1) Service programs designed to help a child: (A) When safe and appropriate, be returned to the family from which he or she has been removed; (B) Be placed for adoption; (C) Be placed with a legal guardian; and (D) If adoption or legal guardianship is determined not to be safe and appropriate for the child, be placed in some other planned, permanent living arrangement; (2) Preplacement preventive services programs, such as intensive family preservation programs, designed to help a child at risk of foster care placement remain safely with his or her family; (3) Service programs designed to provide follow-up care to a family to which a child has been returned after a foster care placement; (4) Respite care of children to provide temporary relief for parents and other caregivers, including foster parents; and (5) Services designed to improve parenting skills by reinforcing a parent's confidence in his or her strengths and by helping a parent identify where improvement is needed and to obtain assistance in improving those skills with respect to matters such as child development, family budgeting, coping with stress, and health and nutrition.

Legislative History

Acts 1991, No. 1025, § 2; 2001, No. 906, § 2; 2011, No. 793, § 5