Duties and powers of the Director.

(a) The Director of the Agency shall have the following duties and powers, any of which may be contracted for, as appropriate, with private or other public agencies:

(1) Receive and investigate reports of abuse or neglect as provided in subchapter II of this chapter , § 4-1301.04 and § 4-1301.06 and assist in the determination of the need for the removal of an abused or neglected child as provided in § 4-1301.07 ;

(2) Within 90 days of taking a child into custody pursuant to § 4-1303.04(c)(1) , return the child to the home or to request that the Office of the Attorney General file a neglect petition in the Family Division of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia;

(3) To maintain a program of treatment and services for families of neglected and abused children including services designed to help children, where safe and appropriate, return to families from which they have been removed;

(4)

(A) To prepare annually a plan for child protective services, which shall be reviewed and commented on by the Mayor’s Committee on Child Abuse and Neglect, and which shall:

(i) Describe the Agency’s implementation of the Adoption and Safe Families Amendment Act of 2000, effective June 27, 2000 ( D.C. Law 13-136 ; 47 DCR 2850), including its organization, staffing, method of operations and financing, and programs and procedures for the receipt, investigation and verification of reports;

(ii) Describe the provisions for the determination of protective services and the treatment of ameliorative service needs, and the provision of such services;

(iii) State the guidelines for referrals to the Family Division of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia; and

(iv) State the provisions for monitoring, evaluation, and planning.

(B) The first plan shall be made available to the public within 90 days of June 27, 2000;

(5) To encourage and assist in the formation of child abuse and neglect teams in hospitals, health and mental health clinics, and other appropriate facilities in the District of Columbia; and

(6) To take whatever additional actions are necessary to accomplish the purposes of the Adoption and Safe Families Amendment Act of 2000, effective June 27, 2000 ( D.C. Law 13-136 ; 47 DCR 2850).

(7) To provide services to families and children who are eligible for such services, consistent with the requirements of this subchapter, through programs of services to families with children, child protective services, foster care, and adoption;

(8) To maintain a 24-hour, 7-days-a-week intake component to receive reports of suspected child abuse or neglect. The intake component shall be staffed at all times by workers specially trained in intake and crisis intervention and shall maintain:

(A) The capacity for receiving reports and for responding promptly with investigation and emergency services;

(B) A widely publicized telephone number for receiving reports at all times; and

(C) Sufficient telephone lines and qualified staff so that all calls will be answered immediately by a trained worker;

(9) To receive reports of suspected child abuse and neglect;

(10) To conduct a social service investigation of alleged child abuse and neglect cases, including joint investigation with the Metropolitan Police Department;

(11) To provide and maintain, for families of children who have been abused or neglected, a program of treatment and services designed to promote the safety of children, reunification of families, and timely permanent placements;

(12) Repealed.

(13) To provide protective service clients appropriate services necessary for the preservation of families, or to contract with private or other public agencies for the purpose of carrying out this duty. These services may include:

(A) Emergency financial aid;

(B) Emergency caretakers;

(C) Homemakers;

(D) Family shelters;

(E) Emergency foster homes;

(F) Facilities providing medical, psychiatric, and other therapeutic services;

(G) Day care;

(H) Parent aides;

(I) Lay therapists; and

(J) Respite care;

(14) To offer rehabilitative services to the child’s family in an effort to reunify the family when a child has been adjudicated a neglected child and placed in foster care;

(15) To immediately, upon court direction, implement the concurrent or alternative plan for the permanent placement of a child when time-limited family reunification services, as defined in § 4-1301.02(19) , have failed to reunite a child in foster care with his or her family or when § 16-2354 applies;

(16)

(A) To request from a consumer reporting agency that compiles and maintain files on consumers on a nationwide basis and is nationally ranked among the top 3 such agencies, the disclosure of file information pursuant to section 609 of the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act, approved October 26, 1970 (84 Stat. 1131; 15 U.S.C. § 1681g), on behalf of a ward of the Agency under the age of 18 years to determine whether identify theft has occurred, when:

(i) An adoption petition has been filed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia;

(ii) A motion for guardianship has been filed in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia; or

(iii) The Agency anticipates that the jurisdiction of the Family Court of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia will be terminated.

(B) The Agency shall provide the disclosed file information to the ward’s guardian ad litem within 30 days of obtaining the results.

(C) For a ward over the age of 18 years, the Agency shall assist the ward if the ward wants to obtain disclosure of file information prior to the termination of the jurisdiction of the Family Court of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

(D) If the Agency determines that disclosed file information indicates that identity theft may have occurred, the Agency shall refer the ward to an approved organization that provides credit counseling to victims of identity theft; provided, that the Agency shall not be responsible for providing assistance beyond a referral.

(E) Within 120 days of May 27, 2010, the Mayor, pursuant to subchapter I of Chapter 5 of Title 2 [ § 2-501 et seq.], shall issue rules to implement the provisions of this paragraph. The proposed rules shall be submitted to the Council for a 30-day period of review, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, legal holidays, and days of Council recess. If the Council does not approve or disapprove the proposed rules, in whole or in part, by resolution within the 30-day review period, the proposed rules shall be deemed approved;

(17) To establish and maintain the Voluntary Foster Care Registry, established pursuant to § 4-1303.08 as a post-care service, for individuals 18 years or older who were or currently are respondents in a child abuse or neglect case under Chapter 23 of Title 16 and for their immediate birth family members, as defined in § 4-1303.08(g) ;

(18) To offer employment counseling to foster children, as defined by § 4-342(3) , who are ages 18 through 21 years old; and

(19)

(A) When requested by a foster child or former foster child who is 18 years of age or older, to provide a letter verifying the person’s status as a foster child or former foster child pursuant to § 1-608.01(e-1) ; and

(B) To record and track the number of foster children or former foster children who request a letter from the Child and Family Services Agency verifying their status pursuant to subparagraph (A) of this paragraph.

(a-1) The Director of the Agency shall have the following additional duties and powers:

(1) To take into custody and place in shelter care, in accordance with subchapter I of Chapter 23 of Title 16 , children who have been abused or neglected;

(2) To develop and test innovative models of practice consistent with the purposes of this subchapter;

(3) To develop programs that deliver a broad range of child and family services, including programs that involve the participation of community and neighborhood-based groups in prevention and intervention services;

(3A)

(A) To issue grants to community and neighborhood-based groups for programs that deliver prevention and intervention services; provided, that the Director submits an annual report to the Council that includes the recipient, amount, purpose, and term of each grant issued, and a description of outcomes to be achieved and an evaluation of whether or not those outcomes have been achieved for each grant issued.

(B) A grant in excess of $1 million shall be submitted to the Council for approval in accordance with § 1-204.51 .

(4) To facilitate:

(A) Permanent placement of a child, including reunification with original caretakers where such placement is consistent with the child’s safety;

(B) Permanent placement with relatives; and

(C) Adoptive placement, as appropriate;

(5) To facilitate meetings for a child in foster care with parents, siblings, relatives, and extended family members;

(6) To provide other programs and services that are consistent with the purposes of this subchapter;

(7) To monitor and evaluate services to and needs of abused and neglected children and their families;

(8) To be the personnel authority for all employees of the Agency, including the exercise of full authority to hire, retain, and terminate personnel, consistent with Chapter 6 of Title 1 ;

(9) By delegation from the Mayor, and independent of the Office of Contracting and Procurement, to exercise procurement authority to carry out the purposes of the Agency, including contracting and contract oversight, consistent with Chapter 3A of Title 2 [ § 2-351.01 et seq.]; except, that § 2-352.01(a) shall not apply;

(10) Starting not later than October 1, 2001, and notwithstanding the licensing powers and responsibilities given to other District agencies and officials in subchapters I-A and I-B of Chapter 28 of Title 47 , to be the exclusive agency to regulate foster and group homes for children who have been abused or neglected and to regulate child placement agencies for these children. For the purposes of this paragraph, the term “regulate” means all licensing, and related functions, except fire inspections and the issuance of certificates of occupancy and all inspections relating to those certificates;

(11) Starting not later than October 1, 2001, to be the “appropriate authority,” under § 4-1421 for children who have been abused or neglected;

(12) To adopt regulations to carry out the purposes of this subchapter, in accordance with Chapter 5 of Title 2 ; and

(13) To take whatever additional actions are necessary to accomplish the purposes of this subchapter.