37-3-603 - Program to provide family preservation services. - Tennessee Statutes

37-3-603. Program to provide family preservation services.

(a)  The department of children's services shall develop, coordinate and implement a program to provide family services to each family with a child at imminent risk of placement; provided, that delivery of family preservation services shall be limited to those families and situations in which the services may be reasonably expected to avoid out-of-home placement of the child and to also afford effective protection of the child, the family, and the community.

(b)  The department shall develop, coordinate and implement a program to provide time-limited family reunification services to each family with a child in foster care; provided, that delivery of time-limited family reunification services shall be limited to those foster children or parents or primary caregiver and shall be limited to the fifteen-month period that begins on the date that the child, pursuant to § 37-2-402, is considered to have entered foster care.

[Acts 1991, ch. 185, § 3; 1996, ch. 1079, § 73; 1998, ch. 1097, § 25.]