(1) recognize the importance of family and children in our society, including the parenting rights of a parent, regardless of whether the parent has a disability;

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(3) acknowledge the responsibility each person owes to the other;

(4) strengthen family life by assisting parents to fulfill their parental obligations;

(5) ensure that children within the juvenile justice system are treated as persons in need of care, protection, treatment, and rehabilitation;

(6) remove children from families only when it is in the child’s best interest or in the best interest of public safety;

(7) make reasonable efforts to support and facilitate two-way communication between a child’s parent or parents and any licensed foster parent or kinship caregiver caring for the child following removal by the department of child services;

(8) provide for adoption as a viable permanency plan for children who are adjudicated children in need of services;

(9) provide a juvenile justice system that protects the public by enforcing the legal obligations that children have to society and society has to children;

(10) use diversionary programs when appropriate;

(11) provide a judicial procedure that:

(A) ensures fair hearings;

(B) recognizes and enforces the legal rights of children and their parents; and

(C) recognizes and enforces the accountability of children and parents;

(12) promote public safety and individual accountability by the imposition of appropriate sanctions; and

(13) provide a continuum of services developed in a cooperative effort by local governments and the state.

[Pre-1997 Recodification Citation: 31-6-1-1.1.]

As added by P.L.1-1997, SEC.2. Amended by P.L.35-1998, SEC.3; P.L.146-2021, SEC.4; P.L.45-2024, SEC.1.