2010 Pennsylvania Code
Title 23 - DOMESTIC RELATIONS
Chapter 63 - Child Protective Services
6375 - County agency requirements for general protective services.

     § 6375.  County agency requirements for general protective
                services.
        (a)  Duties of county agency.--The county agency shall make
     available a program of general protective services within each
     agency. The county agency shall perform those functions assigned
     by this chapter and others that would further the purposes of
     this chapter. It shall have sufficient staff of sufficient
     qualifications to fulfill the purposes of this chapter and be
     organized in a way as to maximize the continuity of
     responsibility, care and service of individual workers toward
     individual children and families. The department by regulation
     shall set forth staff-to-family ratios for the receipt and
     assessment of reports of children in need of protective services
     and for the provision of services to neglected children and
     their families.
        (b)  Organization of county agency.--Each county agency shall
     be organized and staffed to ensure that the agency can provide
     intake for general protective services. Intake occurs when a
     report or referral is made to the agency or when a parent or
     person responsible for the child's welfare requests the
     assistance of the agency.
        (c)  Assessment for services.--
            (1)  Within 60 days of receipt of a report, an assessment
        shall be completed and a decision on whether to accept the
        family for service shall be made. The county agency shall
        provide or arrange for services necessary to protect the
        child during the assessment period.
            (2)  Each county agency shall implement a State-approved
        risk assessment process in performance of its duties.
        (d)  Receiving and assessing reports.--The county agency
     shall be the sole civil agency responsible for receiving and
     assessing all reports of children in need of protective services
     made pursuant to this chapter for the purpose of providing
     protective services to prevent abuse or neglect to children and
     to provide or arrange for and monitor the provision of those
     services necessary to safeguard and ensure the child's well-
     being and development and to preserve and stabilize family life
     wherever appropriate. The department may waive the receipt and
     assessment requirement pursuant to section 6361 (relating to
     organization for child protective services). Nothing in this
     subsection limits 42 Pa.C.S. § 6304 (relating to powers and
     duties of probation officers).
        (e)  Family service plan.--The county agency shall prepare a
     written family service plan in accordance with regulations
     adopted by the department.
        (f)  Types of services.--Each county agency shall make
     available for the prevention and treatment of child abuse and
     neglect: multidisciplinary teams, instruction and education for
     parenthood and parenting skills, protective and preventive
     social counseling, emergency caretaker services, emergency
     shelter care, emergency medical services, part-day services,
     out-of-home placement services, therapeutic activities for the
     child and family directed at alleviating conditions that present
     a risk to the safety and well-being of a child and any other
     services required by department regulations.
        (g)  Monitoring, evaluating and assessing.--The county agency
     shall frequently monitor the provision of services, evaluate the
     effectiveness of the services, conduct in-home visits and make a
     periodic assessment of the risk of harm to the child, which
     shall include maintaining an annually updated photograph of the
     child and verification of the identification of the child.
        (h)  Emergency coverage.--As part of its general protective
     services program, a county agency shall provide 24-hour-a-day
     emergency coverage and be accessible to the public.
        (i)  Protective custody.--Pursuant to section 6315 (relating
     to taking child into protective custody) and after receipt of a
     court order, the county agency shall take a child into
     protective custody to protect the child from abuse or further
     neglect. No county agency worker may take custody of a child
     without judicial authorization based on the merits of the
     situation.
        (j)  Court action.--If the county agency determines that
     protective services are in the best interest of a child and if
     an offer of those services is refused or if any other reason
     exists to warrant court action, the county agency shall initiate
     the appropriate court proceedings.
        (k)  Adjudication of dependency.--The county agency shall
     maintain its responsibility for petitioning the court when
     necessary for the adjudication of dependency of a child pursuant
     to 42 Pa.C.S. Ch. 63 (relating to juvenile matters).
        (l)  Assistance to court.--The county agency shall assist the
     court during all stages of a court proceeding in accordance with
     the purposes of this chapter.
        (m)  Weekly face-to-face contacts.--For those children
     assessed under this section as being at high risk for abuse or
     neglect who are remaining in or returning to the home in which
     the abuse or neglect occurred, the county agency shall ensure
     that those children are seen at least once a week, either
     directly by a county agency worker or through purchase of
     service, until they are no longer assessed as being at high risk
     for abuse or neglect.
        (n)  Transfer of files between county agencies.--Whenever a
     county agency transfers to another county agency a file relating
     to a child who receives or is in need of protective services
     under this chapter, the file shall include any photographic
     identification and an annual photograph taken of the child.
     (Dec. 16, 1994, P.L.1292, No.151; Nov. 24, 1999, P.L.542, No.50,
     eff. 60 days; Oct. 27, 2006, P.L.1192, No.126, eff. 60 days)

        2006 Amendment.  Act 126 amended subsec. (g) and added
     subsec. (n). Section 3 of Act 126 provided that the Department
     of Public Welfare may promulgate rules and regulations to
     administer and enforce the amendment of section 6375 effected by
     Act 126.
        1999 Amendment.  Act 50 added subsec. (m).
        1994 Amendment.  Act 151 added section 6375, effective July
     1, 1997, except as to subsec. (c)(2). See section 10(1) of Act
     151 in the appendix to this title for special provisions
     relating to the effective date of subsec. (c)(2).
        Cross References.  Section 6375 is referred to in section
     6334 of this title.