Title 71, Welfare

(a) The commissioner of human services shall appoint a standards committee composed of twelve (12) citizens, three (3) from each grand division of the state, and three (3) at-large for the purpose of developing or reviewing standards and regulations for each class of child care a…

(a) A family child care home, group child care home or child care center that lacks approved kindergarten status for purposes of § 49-6-201 shall not enroll or continue to enroll any child five (5) years of age during the period of the local education agency's regular school year…

The records of any entity entering into a contract or grant with the state for child care broker services relating to such grant or contract shall be public records open for public inspection in accordance with § 10-7-503. Nothing in this section shall be construed to allow a soc…

(a) (1) All persons or entities operating a child care agency as defined in this part, unless exempt as provided in § 71-3-503, shall establish a drug testing policy for employees, directors, licensees and operators of child care agencies and for other persons providing services …

(a) The department of children's services and the department of human services shall develop a procedure whereby the names and other identifying information for all potential employees of the department of human services in that department's licensing division and adult protectiv…

Any license for a drop-in center issued under this part shall specify whether the center is appropriate for handling school-age children on snow days. A drop-in center may not accept any school-age child for care unless the department determines that center is an appropriate and …

(a) All persons or entities operating a child care agency as defined in this part, excluding drop-in child care centers and those programs and facilities exempt from licensing as provided in § 71-3-503, shall, in consultation with appropriate local authorities and local emergency…

(a) Unless otherwise prohibited by federal or state law, no child care agency licensed under this part shall place a dependent child on a wait list behind a child without a parent or legal guardian serving on active duty in the armed services of the United States, if the dependen…

The commissioner shall designate a specific departmental staff person to serve, in addition to the staff person's other duties, as a liaison to provide an official, uniform message to child care providers, community stakeholders, department child care staff, and partner agencies,…

(a) There is created a child care improvement pilot program to provide grants to be used for establishing a new child care agency in this state or making improvements to, or assisting with staffing, recruitment, or salary gaps, at an existing child care agency in this state. The …

(a) As used in this section:(1) “Enrolled child” means a child who:(A) Is currently enrolled at the child care center and for whom tuition or attendance fees are being paid;(B) Has attended the child care center within the last ninety (90) calendar days; or(C) Is currently on a w…

(a) As used in this section:(1) “Child care family home” means a family child care home that is operated in an occupied residential dwelling; and(2) “Local governing authority” means the governing body of the municipality or county where a child care family home is located. (1) “…

(a) Notwithstanding § 50-5-105, a high school student who is sixteen (16) years of age or older may work in a child care center outside of school hours or during school hours through a work-based learning program if the student has completed at least two (2) courses in a program …

(a) Legislative findings. The general assembly finds and declares that:(1) Access to quality, affordable child care is essential to this state's economic competitiveness and workforce participation;(2) Child care providers face significant regulatory barriers, including duplicati…

All orphan asylums or houses for destitute children, incorporated under the laws of the state, shall be governed by boards of managers, trustees, or directors, which shall consist of twelve (12) or more persons, five (5) or more of whom shall constitute a quorum.

The corporations enumerated in § 71-3-601 may own and hold real and personal property necessary for building, cultivation, and to rent out to raise means to assist in the support of such corporations.

All such asylums or houses at the option of its board may receive or take charge of any destitute orphan or indigent child of either sex, or children of indigent parents, under eighteen (18) years of age, from any part of the state.

The children referred to in § 71-3-603 shall be under the exclusive jurisdiction and control of the board until they become eighteen (18) years of age. The board may, in its discretion, require the parents of such indigent children to surrender all right and claim to the control …

No child shall be received into the asylum, or detained in the asylum, except that the welfare of the child may be thereby promoted, nor shall any child be indentured or given in adoption, except that the best interest of the child shall be thereby secured.

In all cases in which orphans or foundling children are placed in any of the orphan homes, whether voluntarily by their parent or parents or guardian or by the order of some competent court or other authority, or whether they come into the care and custody of any such institution…

It is a Class B misdemeanor for any person to interfere in any way with any of such children in the control and custody of such homes while they are there or at the homes provided for them by such institutions.

At any time after the assumption of control by any of such homes, if the parent or other person, in whom the legal custody of such child would otherwise be, believes such parent or other person entitled to the custody of the child, such person may file a petition in the chancery …

The board shall cause all children over six (6) years of age in such asylum to be instructed in such branches of useful knowledge as may be suited to their years and capabilities, and cause the girls to be taught domestic vocations, such as sewing, mending, knitting, and housekee…

Any of such asylums may, at discretion, receive any child placed in its care and keeping by such child's parents or guardian, or those having the child in charge, and may keep and care for the child until the child is eighteen (18) years of age, unless sooner taken away by the re…

The expenses of such asylum shall be met as follows, to wit: at the end of each fiscal year, each of the boards of managers shall make a statement of the financial condition of the asylum under its control, which shall especially show how much the necessary expenses of the asylum…

(a) There is created within the department of children's services the responsible adolescent parenting project (also known as “Project RAP”). (b) The project shall include information, programs, counseling, and services:(1) For teens who are pregnant with, or who have recently ha…

During fiscal year 1989-1990, the department shall continue to operate Project RAP in Memphis as a model program, as it has since 1986. Beginning July 1, 1990, if and only if funds are specifically allocated in the general appropriations act for the purpose of expanding Project R…

The purpose of this part is to invest in the self-sufficiency of temporary assistance for needy families (TANF) recipients, or successor program.

For the purpose of this part, unless the context otherwise requires, a low-income entrepreneur is one who is starting or expanding a business and who meets the eligibility criteria for receipt of temporary assistance for needy families (TANF), or successor program.

Low-income entrepreneurs will be allowed to escrow profits from their business enterprise that are not reinvested into their business into an account, which will be placed in a micro-lending intermediary program and not be counted against their public assistance benefits until th…

The exemption in § 71-3-903 can be reapplied for whenever the participant is eligible for temporary assistance for needy families (TANF), or successor program.

Under this section, self-employment will be considered the same as a job component, if the individual's income, divided by the minimum wage, equals at a minimum twenty (20) hours per week. To receive the self-employment exemption outlined in this part, low-income entrepreneurs mu…

A micro-lending program is one that provides training, technical assistance and loan funds to low-income entrepreneurs to start or expand a business venture.

The program is dependent on the availability of appropriate waivers from the federal departments of health and human services and agriculture, for which the department of human services is authorized to make application.

This part may be cited as the “Aid to the Blind Law.”

(1) As used in this part, unless the context otherwise requires:(1) “Assistance” means money payments made to or in behalf of blind persons in need, or medical care, or both, including hospitalization, outpatient care and treatment, nursing home care, drugs or any other type of r…

(a) A person shall be considered “blind” for the purposes of this part whose vision, with correcting glasses, is so defective as to prevent the performance of activities for which eyesight is essential. (b) The department shall promulgate rules and regulations stating, in terms o…

(1) Assistance shall be granted under this part to any blind person who:(1) Is living within this state voluntarily and not for a temporary purpose, that is, with no intention of presently removing from the state; provided, that temporary absence from the state, with subsequent r…

The amount of assistance that any person shall receive in the form of supplementary payments shall be determined by an application of 212 (a) of Pub. L. No. 93-66, and rules and regulations made by the department establishing standards of need and allowable resources to the recip…

(1) The department shall:(1) Supervise the administration of assistance to the needy blind under this part by the regional directors;(2) Make such rules and regulations and take such action as may be necessary or desirable for carrying out this part. All rules and regulations mad…

The regional directors shall administer this part in the counties of their regions, subject to the rules and regulations prescribed by the department, and shall report to the department at such times and in such manner as it may direct.

(a) If any award of assistance is modified or cancelled under any provision of this part, the recipient may appeal to the department in the manner and form prescribed by it. (b) The department shall, upon receipt of such an appeal, give the recipient reasonable notice and opportu…

All decisions of the department shall be final and shall be binding upon the county involved and shall be complied with by the regional director or a designated agent.

(a) (1) All assistance grants in the form of money payments made under this part shall be reconsidered by the regional director or a designated agent as frequently as may be required by the rules of the department.(2) After such further investigation as the regional director or a…

This part may be cited as the “Aid to the Disabled Act.”

(1) As used in this part, unless the context otherwise requires:(1) “Assistance” means money payments made to or in behalf of totally disabled persons in need, or medical care, or both, including hospitalization, outpatient care and treatment, nursing home care, drugs or any othe…