49-5-150. Legislative policy and intent.

The policy and intent of the General Assembly in delinquency and other child related problems and community based services can be summarized as follows:

Such programs should be planned and organized at the community level within the state, and such planning efforts should include appropriate representation from local government, local agencies serving families and children, both public and private, local business leaders, citizens with an interest in youth problems, youth representatives, and others as may be appropriate in a particular community. The role of the state should be to provide technical assistance, access to funding, program information, and assistance to local leadership in appropriate planning;#

When a child is adjudicated to be within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court or other state agencies, such child should be carefully evaluated through the available community-level resources including a comprehensive team of mental health providers, social services providers, public health and other available medical providers, public schools, and others, as appropriate, prior to the juvenile hearing dealing with disposition so that the disposition of the court may be made with an understanding of the needs of the child and after consideration of the resources available to meet those needs;#

It is contrary to the policy of the state for a court to separate a child from his or her own family or commit a child to an institution without a careful evaluation of the needs of the child;#

The General Assembly finds that state and local government should be responsive to the need for community based services which would provide an alternative to commitment to an institution. The General Assembly intends that state government should be responsive to this need through the council by helping public and private local groups to plan, develop, and fund community based programs, both residential and nonresidential;#

It is the intent of the General Assembly that the council develop a funding mechanism that will provide state support for programs that meet the standards developed under the provisions of this part.#