Section 214-RICR-10-00-1.1 - PurposeA. The Mission of the Department of Children, Youth and Families (hereinafter the Department) is to partner with families and communities to raise safe and healthy children and youth in a caring environment.B. The Department has a responsibility to promote, safeguard and protect the social well-being and development of children of the state through a comprehensive program which is consistent with R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-72-2.C. The Department is mandated by federal and state law and Department policy to make reasonable efforts to prevent a child's removal from his/her home, to reunify the child and family and to make and finalize an alternate permanent placement when the child and family cannot be reunited. The Department is guided by principles of family-centered, culturally competent practice and utilizes standardized tools at various points throughout the Department's involvement with a family. Family represents the focus of all work and family members are engaged through the development and implementation of any plan. The family is defined broadly and includes biological parents, adoptive families, extended kinship networks to include fictive kin, foster families, and legal guardians.214 R.I. Code R. 214-RICR-10-00-1.1
Adopted effective 12/27/2018