The director shall:
 1. Plan and supervise all public child welfare services and activities within the state as provided by this chapter.

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Terms Used In Iowa Code 235.3

  • Child: includes but shall not be limited to a stepchild, foster child, or legally adopted child and means a child actually or apparently under eighteen years of age, and a dependent person eighteen years of age or over who is unable to maintain the person's self and is likely to become a public charge. See Iowa Code 252A.2
  • Child: means the same as defined in section 234. See Iowa Code 235.1
  • Child welfare services: means social welfare services for the protection and care of children who are homeless, dependent or neglected, or in danger of becoming delinquent, or who have a mental illness or an intellectual disability or other developmental disability, including, when necessary, care and maintenance in a foster care facility. See Iowa Code 235.1
  • Court: shall mean and include any court upon which jurisdiction has been conferred to determine the liability of persons for the support of dependents. See Iowa Code 252A.2
  • Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
  • Dependent: shall mean and include a spouse, child, mother, father, grandparent, or grandchild who is in need of and entitled to support from a person who is declared to be legally liable for such support. See Iowa Code 252A.2
  • Director: means the director of health and human services. See Iowa Code 235.1
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories, and the words "United States" may include the said district and territories. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • United States: includes all the states. See Iowa Code 4.1
 2. Make reports and obtain and furnish information as necessary to permit cooperation by the director with the United States children’s bureau, the social security administration, or any other federal agency which is charged with any duty regarding child care or child welfare services.
 3. Adopt rules as necessary or advisable for the supervision of the private child-caring agencies or their officers which the department is empowered to license and supervise.
 4. Supervise private institutions for the care of dependent, neglected, and delinquent children, and make reports regarding the institutions.
 5. Designate and approve the private and county institutions within the state to which neglected, dependent, and delinquent children may be legally committed, supervise the care of children committed to these institutions, and have the right to visit and inspect these institutions at all times.
 6. Receive and keep on file annual reports from all institutions to which children subject to the jurisdiction of the juvenile court are committed, compile statistics regarding juvenile delinquency, make reports regarding juvenile delinquency, and study prevention and cure of juvenile delinquency.
 7. Require and receive from the clerks of the courts of record within the state duplicates of the findings of the courts upon petitions for adoption, and keep records and compile statistics regarding adoptions.
 8. License private child-placing agencies, make reports regarding the agencies, and revoke licenses.
 9. Make rules and regulations as necessary for the distribution and use of funds appropriated for child welfare services.