§49-5B-4 Responsibilities of the department of health and human resources and division of juvenile services of the department of military affairs and public safety. - West Virginia Statutes

§49-5B-4. Responsibilities of the department of health and human resources and division of juvenile services of the department of military affairs and public safety.
(a) The department of health and human resources and the division of juvenile services of the department of military affairs and public safety are empowered to jointly establish, and shall establish, subject to the limits of funds available or otherwise appropriated therefor, programs and services designed to prevent juvenile delinquency, to divert juveniles from the juvenile justice system, to provide community-based alternatives to juvenile detention and correctional facilities and to encourage a diversity of alternatives within the child welfare and juvenile justice system. The development, maintenance and expansion of programs and services may include, but not be limited to, the following:

(1) Community-based programs and services for the prevention and treatment of juvenile delinquency through the development of foster-care and shelter-care homes, group homes, halfway houses, homemaker and home health services, twenty-four hour intake screening, volunteer and crisis home programs, day treatment and any other designated community-based diagnostic, treatment or rehabilitative service;

(2) Community-based programs and services to work with parents and other family members to maintain and strengthen the family unit so that the juvenile may be retained in his or her home;

(3) Youth service bureaus and other community-based programs to divert youth from the juvenile court or to support, counsel, or provide work and recreational opportunities for status offenders, juvenile delinquents and other youth to help prevent delinquency;

(4) Projects designed to develop and implement programs stressing advocacy activities aimed at improving services for and protecting rights of youth affected by the juvenile justice system;

(5) Educational programs or supportive services designed to encourage status offenders, juvenile delinquents, and other youth to remain in elementary and secondary schools or in alternative learning situations;

(6) Expanded use of professional and paraprofessional personnel and volunteers to work effectively with youth;

(7) Youth initiated programs and outreach programs designed to assist youth who otherwise would not be reached by traditional youth assistance programs; and

(8) A statewide program designed to reduce the number of commitments of juveniles to any form of juvenile facility as a percentage of the state juvenile population; to increase the use of nonsecure community-based facilities as a percentage of total commitments to juvenile facilities; and to discourage the use of secure incarceration and detention.

(b) The department of health and human resources shall establish, within the funds available, an individualized program of rehabilitation for each status offender referred to the department and to each alleged juvenile delinquent referred to the department after being allowed an improvement period by the juvenile court, and for each adjudicated juvenile delinquent who, after adjudication, is referred to the department for investigation or treatment or whose custody is vested in the department. Such individualized program of rehabilitation shall take into account the programs and services to be provided by other public or private agencies or personnel which are available in the community to deal with the circumstances of the particular juvenile. For alleged juvenile delinquents and status offenders, such individualized program of rehabilitation shall be furnished to the juvenile court and shall be available to counsel for the juvenile; it may be modified from time to time at the direction of the department or by order of the juvenile court. The department may develop an individualized program of rehabilitation for any juvenile referred for noncustodial counseling under section five, article three of this chapter, for any juvenile receiving counsel and advice under section three-a, article five of this chapter, or for any other juvenile upon the request of a public or private agency.

(c) The department of health and human resources and the division of juvenile services are authorized and directed to enter into cooperative arrangements and agreements with each other and with private agencies or with agencies of the state and its political subdivisions to fulfill their respective duties under this article and chapter.