2025 Vermont Statutes
Title 33 - Human Services
Chapter 49 - Child Welfare Services
§ 4911. Purpose

§ 4911. Purpose

The purpose of this subchapter is to:

(1) protect children whose health and welfare may be adversely affected through abuse or neglect;

(2) strengthen the family and make the home safe for children whenever possible by enhancing the parental capacity for good child care;

(3) provide a temporary or permanent nurturing and safe environment for children when necessary; and for these purposes require the reporting of suspected child abuse and neglect, an assessment or investigation of such reports and provision of services, when needed, to such child and family;

(4) establish a range of responses to child abuse and neglect that take into account different degrees of child abuse or neglect and that recognize that child offenders should be treated differently from adults;

(5) establish a tiered child protection registry that balances the need to protect children and the potential employment consequences of a registry record for a person’s conduct that is substantiated for child abuse and neglect; and

(6) ensure that in the Department for Children and Families’ efforts to protect children from abuse and neglect, the Department also ensures that investigations are thorough, unbiased, based on accurate and reliable information weighed against other supporting or conflicting information, and adhere to due process requirements. (Added 1981, No. 207 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. April 25, 1982; amended 2007, No. 168 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 2023, No. 154 (Adj. Sess.), § 2, eff. September 1, 2024.)