[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 45, Volume 4]

[Revised as of October 1, 2005]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 45CFR1355.25]



[Page 266-267]

 

                        TITLE 45--PUBLIC WELFARE

 

CHAPTER XIII--OFFICE OF HUMAN DEVELOPMENT SERVICES, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH 

                           AND HUMAN SERVICES

 

PART 1355_GENERAL--Table of Contents

 

Sec. 1355.25  Principles of child and family services.



    The following principles, most often identified by practitioners and 

others as helping to assure effective services for children, youth, and 

families, should guide the States and Indian Tribes in developing, 

operating, and improving the continuum of child and family services.

    (a) The safety and well-being of children and of all family members 

is paramount. When safety can be assured, strengthening and preserving 

families is seen as the best way to promote the healthy development of 

children. One important way to keep children safe is to stop violence in 

the family including violence against their mothers.

    (b) Services are focused on the family as a whole; service providers 

work with families as partners in identifying and



[[Page 267]]



meeting individual and family needs; family strengths are identified, 

enhanced, respected, and mobilized to help families solve the problems 

which compromise their functioning and well-being.

    (c) Services promote the healthy development of children and youth, 

promote permanency for all children and help prepare youth emancipating 

from the foster care system for self-sufficiency and independent living.

    (d) Services may focus on prevention, protection, or other short or 

long-term interventions to meet the needs of the family and the best 

interests and need of the individual(s) who may be placed in out-of-home 

care.

    (e) Services are timely, flexible, coordinated, and accessible to 

families and individuals, principally delivered in the home or the 

community, and are delivered in a manner that is respectful of and 

builds on the strengths of the community and cultural groups.

    (f) Services are organized as a continuum, designed to achieve 

measurable outcomes, and are linked to a wide variety of supports and 

services which can be crucial to meeting families' and children's needs, 

for example, housing, substance abuse treatment, mental health, health, 

education, job training, child care, and informal support networks.

    (g) Most child and family services are community-based, involve 

community organizations, parents and residents in their design and 

delivery, and are accountable to the community and the client's needs.

    (h) Services are intensive enough and of sufficient duration to keep 

children safe and meet family needs. The actual level of intensity and 

length of time needed to ensure safety and assist the family may vary 

greatly between preventive (family support) and crisis intervention 

services (family preservation), based on the changing needs of children 

and families at various times in their lives. A family or an individual 

does not need to be in crisis in order to receive services.



[61 FR 58654, Nov. 18, 1996]