Effective 28 Aug 2014

207.020. Powers of children's division. — 1. In addition to the powers, duties and functions vested in the children's division by other provisions of this chapter or by other laws of this state, the division shall have the power:

(1) To sue and be sued;

(2) To make contracts and carry out the duties imposed upon it by this or any other law;

(3) To administer, disburse, dispose of and account for funds, commodities, equipment, supplies or services, and any kind of property given, granted, loaned, advanced to or appropriated by the state of Missouri for any of the purposes herein;

(4) To administer oaths, issue subpoenas for witnesses, examine such witnesses under oath, and make and keep a record of same;

(5) To adopt, amend and repeal rules and regulations necessary or desirable to carry out the provisions of this chapter and which are not inconsistent with the constitution or laws of this state;

(6) To cooperate with the United States government in matters of mutual concern pertaining to any duties wherein the children's division is acting as a state agency, including the adoption of such methods of administration as are found by the United States government to be necessary for the efficient operation of state plans hereunder;

(7) To make such reports in such form and containing such information as the United States government may, from time to time, require, and comply with such provisions as the United States government may, from time to time, find necessary to assure the correctness and verification of such reports;

(8) To establish, extend and strengthen child welfare services for the protection and care of homeless, dependent and neglected children and children in danger of becoming delinquent;

(9) To expend child welfare service funds for payment of part of the cost of district, county or other local child welfare services;

(10) To administer state child welfare activities and develop state services for the encouragement and assistance of adequate methods of community child welfare organizations;

(11) To appoint, when and if it may deem necessary, advisory committees to provide professional or technical consultation in respect to welfare problems and welfare administration. The members of such advisory committees shall receive no compensation for their services other than expenses actually incurred in the performance of their official duties. The number of members of each such advisory committee shall be determined by the children's division, and such advisory committees shall consult with and advise the children's division in respect to problems and policies incident to the administration of the particular function germane to the respective field of competence;

(12) To initiate or cooperate with other agencies in developing measures for the prevention of dependency and the rehabilitation of children;

(13) To collect statistics, make special fact-finding studies and publish reports in reference to its duties;

(14) To establish or cooperate in research or demonstration projects relative to the welfare program, such as those relating to the prevention and reduction of dependency and economic distress, or which will aid in effecting coordination of planning between private and public welfare agencies, or which will help improve the administration and effectiveness of programs carried on or assisted under the federal Social Security Act and the programs related thereto;

(15) To provide appropriate public welfare services to promote, safeguard and protect the social well-being and general welfare of children and to help maintain and strengthen family life, and to provide such public welfare services to aid children and their families as may be authorized by law;

(16) Upon request, to cooperate with the juvenile court and furnish social studies and reports to the court with respect to children as to whom adoption, abuse, or neglect petitions have been filed;

(17) To accept for social services and care, homeless, dependent or neglected children in all counties where legal custody is vested in the children's division by the juvenile court where the juvenile court has acquired jurisdiction pursuant to subdivision (1) or (2) of subsection 1 of section 211.031; provided that prior to legal custody being vested in the children's division, the children's division shall conduct an evaluation of the child, examine the child and investigate all pertinent circumstances of his or her background for the purpose of determining appropriate services and a treatment plan for the child. This evaluation shall involve local division staff and consultation with the juvenile officer or such officer's designee, appropriate state agencies, including but not limited to the department of mental health and the department of elementary and secondary education, or private practitioners who are knowledgeable of the child or programs or services appropriate to the needs of the child and shall be completed within thirty days. Temporary custody may be placed with the children's division while the evaluation is being conducted. A report of such proceedings and findings shall be submitted in writing to the appropriate court:

(a) The children's division may, at any time, if it finds the child placed in its custody is in need of care or treatment other than that which it can provide, apply to the court which placed such child for an order relieving it of custody of such child. The court must make a determination within ten days and the court shall be vested with full power to make such disposition of the child as is authorized by law, including continued custody;

(b) However, no payments for care shall be made:

a. To facilities with which the children's division has no contract to provide such care, or to facilities in the state of Missouri which are not licensed by the state of Missouri unless exempt from such licensure;

b. To any facility outside the state of Missouri unless the children's division determines that there is no facility in the state of Missouri which can provide substantially equivalent care, except that this limitation shall not apply to any facility outside the state of Missouri if that facility is the closest available facility to the child's home or the children's division determines that such placement is in the child's best interest; nor

c. To any facility outside the state of Missouri which is not licensed or exempted from licensure by the state in which it is located, or which cannot document that it meets requirements which would be necessary for licensure in the state of Missouri. The term "care" shall include room, board, clothing, medical care, dental care, social services and incidentals;

(18) To accept gifts and grants of any property, real or personal, and to sell said property and expend such gifts or grants not inconsistent with the administration of this chapter and within the limitations imposed by the donor thereof;

(19) To make periodic surveys of cost-of-living factors in relation to the duties and responsibilities of the division, and establish standards or budgetary guides for determining minimum costs of meeting such requirements, and amend such standards from time to time as circumstances may require.

2. All powers and duties of the children's division shall, so far as applicable, apply to the administration of any other law or state law wherein duties are imposed upon the children's division acting as a state agency.

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(L. 1945 p. 945 § 33, A.L. 1961 p. 531, A.L. 1965 p. 351, A.L. 1977 H.B. 578, A.L. 1981 S.B. 200, A.L. 1982 S.B. 497, A.L. 1986 H.B. 1502, A.L. 1993 S.B. 52, A.L. 2014 H.B. 1299 Revision)

(1998) Statute does not provide authority for the division of youth services to take third-party custody of a child in a dissolution action. R.J.A. v. G.M.A., 969 S.W.2d 241 (S.D.Mo.).