Page 25

state, or law or regulation imposed as conditions for federal financial participation; (12) establish the divisions and local offices that are considered necessary or expedient to carry out a duty or authority assigned to it and appoint and employ the assistants and personnel that are necessary to carry on the work of the divisions and offices, and fix the compensation of the assistants or employees, except that a person engaged in business as a retail vendor of general merchandise, or a member of the immediate family of a person who is so engaged, may not serve as an acting, temporary, or permanent local agent of the department, unless the commissioner of family and community services certifies in writing to the governor, with relation to a particular community, that no other qualified person is available in the community to serve as local welfare agent; for the purposes of this paragraph, a “member of the immediate family” includes a spouse, child, parent, brother, sister, parent-in-law, brother-in-law, or sister-in-law; (13) actively seek to recruit quality foster parents and adoptive parents when a shortage of quality foster parents or adoptive parents exists. Sec. 47.06.020. Purpose and policy related to children. The purpose of this title as it relates to children is to secure for each child the care and guidance, preferably in the child's own home, that will serve the moral, emotional, mental, and physical welfare of the child and the best interests of the community; to preserve and strengthen the child's family ties unless efforts to preserve and strengthen the ties are likely to result in physical or emotional damage to the child, removing the child from the custody of the parents only as a last resort when the child's welfare or safety or the protection of the public cannot be adequately safeguarded without removal; and, when the child is removed from the family, to secure for the child adequate custody and care and adequate planning for permanent placement of the child. It is the policy of the state to acknowledge and take into account the principles of early childhood and youth brain development and, whenever possible, consider the concepts of early adversity, toxic stress, childhood trauma, and the promotion of resilience through protective relationships, supports, self-regulation, and services. Sec. 47.06.030. Legislative findings related to children. The legislature finds that (1) parents have the following rights and responsibilities relating to the care and control of their child while the child is a minor: (A) the responsibility to provide the child with food, clothing, shelter, education, and medical care; (B) the right and responsibility to protect, nurture, train, and discipline the child, including the right to direct the child's medical care and the right to exercise reasonable corporal discipline; (C) the right to determine where and with whom the child shall live; (D) the right and responsibility to make decisions of legal or financial significance concerning the child; (E) the right to obtain representation for the child in legal actions; and (F) the responsibility to provide special safeguards and care, including appropriate prenatal and postnatal protection for the child;