WILLIAM DONALD SCHAEFER, Governor                   Ch. 182

5-524.

The Administration shall provide child welfare services to a
child and the child's parent or guardian:

(1)  to assist in preventing the necessity of placing
the child outside of the child's home;

(2)  to reunite the child with the child's parent or
guardian after the child has been placed in foster care; or

(3)  if the child has been placed in foster care and
cannot return to the child's parent or guardian, to develop and
implement an alternative permanent plan for the child.

5-525.

(a)  The Administration shall establish a program of foster
care for minor children:

(1)  who are placed in the custody of a local
department, for a period of not more than 6 months, by a parent
or legal guardian under a written agreement voluntarily entered
into with the local department; or

(2)  who are abused, abandoned, neglected, or
dependent, if a juvenile court:

(i) has determined that continued residence in
the child's home is contrary to the child's welfare; and

(ii) has committed the child to the custody or
guardianship of a local department.

(b)  (1) The local department shall provide 24-hour a day
care and supportive services for a child who is committed to its
custody or guardianship in a licensed or approved foster family
home, group home, or child care institution on a short-term
basis, while the local department develops and implements a
permanency plan that is in the best interests of the child.

(2) (i) A child may not be committed to the custody
or guardianship of a local department and placed in foster care
solely because the child's parent or guardian lacks shelter.

(ii)     The [Administration]       LOCAL DEPARTMENT

shall make appropriate   referrals to emergency     shelter services

and other services       for the homeless family   with a child which
lacks shelter.

(c)  In developing a permanency plan that is in the best
interests of a child under foster care, the local department
shall consider the following, in descending order of priority:

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