Title 9 — Family Law

(a) There is hereby created the Division of Youth Services within the Department of Human Services. (b) (1) The Governor may appoint the Director of the Division of Youth Services or may delegate that function to the Secretary of the Department of Human Services.(2) The director …

(a) The Division of Youth Services shall perform the following functions and have the authority and responsibility to:(1) Coordinate communication among the various components of the juvenile justice system;(2) Oversee reform of the state's juvenile justice system, review the qua…

(a) The Division of Youth Services shall establish and maintain an observation and assessment center for the reception, orientation, classification, and adjustment evaluation of all youths committed to the division. (b) (1) The staff of the center shall be provided by the divisio…

(a) The physical facilities and programs at each of the youth services centers shall be designed and developed to be particularly suitable for the physical custody, care, education, and rehabilitation of youths of particular classifications. (b) In classifying and committing yout…

(a) When a court finds a delinquent juvenile committed a delinquent act while under eighteen (18) years of age, the court may commit the juvenile to the Division of Youth Services. (b) No court may commit a juvenile found solely in criminal contempt to the division.

(a) When any youth is committed to the Division of Youth Services as authorized in this section, the youth shall be under the exclusive care, physical custody, and control of the division from the time of the lawful reception of the youth by a youth services center until the yout…

(a) (1) An order of commitment to the Division of Youth Services shall state that the juvenile is found to be adjudicated a delinquent juvenile and shall state information regarding the underlying facts of the adjudication.(2) No circuit court may commit a juvenile found solely i…

(a) (1) Upon commitment to the Division of Youth Services, a youth shall be delivered to the observation and assessment center for orientation, classification, diagnosis, and evaluation.(2) Upon completion of such orientation, classification, diagnosis, and evaluation, the staff …

(a) (1) In consideration of its juvenile correctional role, the Division of Youth Services shall establish objective guidelines for length of stay when juveniles are committed to the division.(2) Except when an extended juvenile jurisdiction offender or a juvenile committed to th…

(a) If any delinquent youth committed to the Division of Youth Services escapes or absents himself or herself from a youth services center or facility without authorization, he or she may be returned to the facility by a law enforcement officer without further proceedings. (b) No…

All funds derived from the sale of agricultural products, livestock, or manufactured articles, or from other activities carried on at the youth services centers or facilities shall be deposited into the State Treasury in the Youth Services Fund Account of the Department of Human …

A.C.A. § 9-28-213Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

(a) If charged and found guilty as an adult for first degree escape, § 5-54-110, or second degree escape, § 5-54-111, a juvenile shall be given a mandatory sentence of not less than nine (9) months in an appropriate facility of the Division of Correction. (b) If adjudicated delin…

(a) As used in this section, “identifying and descriptive information” means any information pertaining to a juvenile that is necessary to safeguard public safety and aid in the apprehension of the juvenile, including without limitation:(1) A photo of the juvenile;(2) The name of…

(a) The Division of Youth Services shall promulgate rules to require the separation of juvenile offenders committed to a facility operated by the division based upon:(1) The age of the juvenile offender;(2) The seriousness of the crime or crimes committed by the juvenile offender…

(a) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, reports, correspondence, memoranda, case histories, or other material that personally identifies a juvenile, including protected health information, compiled or received by a juvenile detention facility, a community-based …

(a) In order to assure that juveniles committed to facilities operated by or under contract with the Division of Youth Services are not subject to unsafe and unsanitary living conditions, the Secretary of the Department of Human Services or a duly authorized agent is authorized t…

(a) (1) In order to assure that citizens of the State of Arkansas, the juveniles committed to facilities operated by or under contract with the Division of Youth Services, and the employees of the facilities are protected from injury and harm, the Secretary of the Department of C…

This subchapter shall be known as the “Child Welfare Agency Licensing Act”.

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Adoptive home” means a household of one (1) or more persons that has been approved by a licensed child placement agency to accept a child for adoption;(2) “Adverse action” means any petition by the Department of Human Services before the Child …

(a) (1) There is created the Child Welfare Agency Review Board to serve as the administrative body to carry out the provisions of this subchapter.(2) The board shall have the authority to promulgate rules to enforce the provisions of this subchapter.(3) An excluded child welfare …

(a) The Child Welfare Agency Review Board shall consist of Arkansas residents who shall be qualified as follows:(1) The director of the division within the Department of Human Services designated by the Secretary of the Department of Human Services to administer this subchapter o…

(a) (1) The Child Welfare Agency Review Board shall promulgate and publish rules setting minimum standards governing the granting, revocation, refusal, conversion, and suspension of licenses for a child welfare agency and the operation of a child welfare agency.(2) The board may …

(a) (1) The Department of Human Services shall advise the Child Welfare Agency Review Board regarding proposed rules.(2) The department shall obtain comments from the board prior to initiating the rule promulgation process. (1) The Department of Human Services shall advise the Ch…

(a) (1) It shall be unlawful for any person, partnership, group, corporation, association, or other entity or identifiable group of entities having a coordinated ownership of controlling interest to operate or assist in the operation of a child welfare agency that has not been li…

(a) (1) Any church or group of churches exempt from the state income tax levied by the Income Tax Act of 1929, § 26-51-101 et seq., when operating a child welfare agency shall be exempt from obtaining a license to operate the facility by the receipt by the Child Welfare Agency Re…

(a) (1) Each of the following persons in a child welfare agency shall be checked with the Child Maltreatment Central Registry in his or her state of residence and any state of residence in which the person has lived for the past five (5) years and in the person's state of employm…

(a) (1) (A) A voluntary respite care provider is exempt from obtaining a license under § 9-28-407 if approved by a qualified nonprofit organization under this section.(B) A voluntary respite care provider shall be approved by a qualified nonprofit organization before it is eligib…

(a) A foster home shall:(1) Provide substitute care within a family-like setting on a twenty-four-hour basis for any child placed in the foster home by a child placement agency;(2) Adhere to the reasonable and prudent parent standard, as that standard is defined by Pub. L. No. 11…

A.C.A. § 9-28-416Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

(a) As used in this section:(1) “Discriminatory action” means any action taken by state government to:(A) Alter in any way the tax treatment of, or cause any tax, penalty, or payment to be assessed against, or deny, delay, revoke, or otherwise make unavailable an exemption from t…

(a) The Division of Children and Family Services shall not require a foster home to obtain more than:(1) Fifteen (15) hours of initial training to become an approved foster home; or(2) Six (6) hours of annual training to maintain the foster home's status as an approved foster hom…

(a) The Division of Children and Family Services shall not require a provisional foster home to undergo the same amount of hourly training under § 9-28-418. (b) The division shall promulgate rules under this section to streamline the training process for a provisional foster home…

A.C.A. § 9-28-504Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

A.C.A. § 9-28-505Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved

In a significant number of cases, the health, safety, welfare, and basic emotional needs of children are not being met by remaining with their families. In certain situations, therapeutic group homes and independent living programs can provide the sense of structure, continuity, …

(1) As used in this subchapter:(1) “Division” means the Division of Youth Services;(2) “Independent living programs” means residential and nonresidential services provided to youths that may include, but not be limited to:(A) Intensive case management;(B) Adult supervision;(C) Tr…

(a) The Division of Youth Services will issue requests for proposals for contracts for the establishment of independent living programs. (b) The programs shall:(1) Provide case management, adult supervision, and treatment services for participant youths, as outlined in an individ…

(a) Presently circuit judges must often choose between imposing no sanction at all or committing juveniles to the Division of Youth Services. Judges should have punitive options available as alternatives to confinement. Therefore, it is the intent of the General Assembly that a c…

(a) The Division of Youth Services shall ensure that each judicial district has a continuum of sanctions available through its contracts with community-based providers. The sanctions may include, but are not limited to, the following:(1) House arrest as enforced by electronic mon…

(a) The Division of Youth Services may impose any community-based sanction on a juvenile in its custody or who is in aftercare as a result of having been committed. (b) The court may impose community-based sanctions as an original disposition, revocation of probation, or as a con…

(a) Each new professional or consultant service contract over twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) of the Division of Youth Services with a community-based provider shall be filed for review with the Legislative Council or the Joint Budget Committee if the General Assembly is i…

(a) The Division of Youth Services shall establish a separate facility to house offenders between the ages of eighteen (18) and twenty-one (21) who have been committed to the division. (b) The facility shall be in operation by July 1, 2000, and shall be contingent upon funding.

This subchapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Foster Parent Support Act of 2007”.

(a) The General Assembly finds that foster parents providing care for children who are in the custody of the Department of Human Services play an integral, indispensable, and vital role in the state's effort to care for dependent children displaced from their homes. The General A…

(1) Foster parents should be supported in the following manner:(1) Treated by the Division of Children and Family Services and other partners in the care of abused and neglected children with consideration, dignity, respect, and trust as a primary caregiver for foster children, i…

INTERSTATE COMPACT ON THE PLACEMENT OF CHILDREN The Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children is enacted into law and entered into with all other jurisdictions legally joining therein in form substantially as follows: INTERSTATE COMPACT ON THE PLACEMENT OF CHILDREN ARTICLE …

As used in Article VII of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children, the term “executive head” means the Governor. The Governor is authorized to appoint a compact administrator in accordance with the terms of Article VII.

(a) The “appropriate public authorities” as used in Article III of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children, with reference to this state, means the Department of Human Services which shall receive and act with reference to notices required by Article III. (b) The depa…

As used in paragraph (a) of Article V of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children, the phrase “appropriate authority in the receiving state” with reference to this state means the Secretary of the Department of Human Services.