Title 37, Juveniles

(a) The commissioner has the duty and responsibility to:(1) Promulgate rules and regulations to carry out the commissioner's responsibilities under this part;(2) Review and approve plans of operation submitted in accordance with § 37-5-310;(3) Enter into such contracts, subject t…

The executive director, subject to approval of the board and approval of the plan of operation pursuant to § 37-5-310, has the authority to hire such employees and incur such expenses as may be necessary for proper discharge of the duties of the agency.

(a) The agency shall, to the maximum extent possible, contract with private providers, clinics and local governments for the provision of services for the citizens of the state. (b) The agency shall terminate a contract under the following conditions:(1) Fraud or misappropriation…

(a) At least ninety (90) days prior to the beginning of each state fiscal year, the board shall submit a plan of operation for review and approval to the commissioner. The plan of operation shall be in such form as may be required by the department and shall include, but not be l…

(a) The executive director of each agency shall deposit with the state treasurer funds received from the United States treasury and other funds earned, given or granted to the agency, including state funds. (b) Such funds may be invested in the local government investment pool pu…

(a) Each board shall make an annual report to the governor and to the commissioner. (b) This report shall contain an accounting for all money received and expended, statistics on persons served during the year, recommendations and such other matters as the board deems pertinent.

(a) The comptroller of the treasury shall make an annual audit of the program established by this part as part of the comptroller's annual audit pursuant to § 9-3-211. (b) The community services agencies shall maintain all books and records in accordance with generally accepted a…

Employees of the community services agencies shall be considered “state employees” for purposes of § 9-8-307. Designated volunteers providing services under this part shall also be considered “state employees” for purposes of § 9-8-307; provided, that designated volunteers who ar…

(1) This part shall be given the following construction:(1) This part shall be construed as remedial legislation and shall be given liberal construction to effectuate its purpose;(2) This part shall not be construed as creating an employer-employee relationship between the depart…

(a) Community services agencies shall be eligible to be participating employers in the Tennessee consolidated retirement system. (b) All liabilities owed by a community health agency and all assets of whatever kind and nature and wherever located, including, but not limited to, r…

(a) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, including § 8-30-309, and recognizing the years of faithful and dedicated service to the state of Tennessee by the employees of the community services agencies, community services agency employees who serve in jobs that would be classi…

(a) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, including § 8-30-309, any county having a metropolitan form of government whose employees provide services for the community services agency, pursuant to § 37-5-304, and who serve in positions funded by the department of children's ser…

(a) Notwithstanding any provisions of law to the contrary, including § 8-30-309, and recognizing the years of faithful and dedicated service to the state of Tennessee by the employees of the community services agencies, community services agency employees who serve in jobs that w…

No person, agency, association, institution or corporation shall bring or send into this state any child for the purpose of giving the child's custody to some person, institution, corporation or agency in the state, or procuring its adoption by some person in the state without fi…

(a) The person, agency or corporation with whom a child is placed for either of the purposes set out in § 37-5-401 shall be responsible for the child's proper care and training. (b) The department of human services, through its agents, shall permit the placing of such child only …

(a) The department may in its discretion require of a person, agency, association, institution or corporation that brings or sends a child into the state, with the written consent of the department, as provided in § 37-5-401, a continuing bond in a sum not less than one thousand …

(a) No child shall be taken or sent out of the state for the purpose of placing the child in a foster home or in a child-caring institution without first obtaining the written consent of the department of human services. (b) All out-of-state placements shall be cleared with the p…

Every person acting for that person or for any agency who violates any of this part, or any agency or corporation that, through its agents, violates any of this part, or any person or agency that makes any false statements to the department of human services regarding the placeme…

None of this part shall apply when a child is brought into, or sent into, or taken out of, or sent out of the state, by a parent, stepparent, grandparent or other natural or legal guardian of the child.

(a) The department shall develop a policy to assist foreign national children suspected of being victims of human trafficking. (b) The department must develop and maintain assessment tools to screen system-involved children at risk of human trafficking for experiences of commerci…

(a) As used in this part, unless the context otherwise requires, “child care agency” includes “child abuse agency,” “child caring institution,” “child placing agency,” “detention center,” “family boarding home or foster home,” “group care home,” “maternity home,” or “temporary ho…

(a) (1) Any person or entity operating a child abuse agency, child caring institution, child placing agency, detention center, family boarding home or foster home, group care home, maternity home, or temporary holding resource, as defined in § 37-5-501, must be licensed by the de…

(1) The following entities, facilities or programs are excluded from licensing or approval as child care agencies pursuant to this part:(1) All child care regulated by the departments of education or human services;(2) Public or private summer day camps or overnight camps such as…

All child caring institutions, child placing agencies and maternity homes chartered in this state prior to July 1, 2000, shall be subject to all of its requirements.

Child caring institutions, and child placing agencies, family boarding homes, group care homes or foster homes, when licensed in accordance with this part, may receive needy or dependent children from their parents or legal guardians for special, temporary or continued care. The …

(a) Child placing agencies, in placing children in private families, shall safeguard their welfare by a thorough investigation of each applicant and its home and its environment, carefully select the home in which the child is placed, and personally and adequately supervise each …

(a) Private individuals, including midwives, physicians, nurses, hospital officials, lawyers and the officials of any nonchartered or nonlicensed child caring institution, child placing agency, or maternity home, are forbidden to engage in placing children for temporary care or f…

(a) The department may, in accordance with the laws of the state governing injunctions, maintain an action in the name of the state of Tennessee to enjoin any person, partnership, association, corporation or other entity from establishing, conducting, managing or operating any pl…

(a) Any person or entity, as defined in § 37-5-501, operating a child care agency without being licensed by the department or who continues to operate while a suspension of the license is in effect, or who operates a child care agency following the effective date of a denial or r…

(a) Any child care agency, as defined in § 37-5-501, that is under the direct management of an administrative department of the state, a county, or a municipality, or any combination of these three (3), shall not be subject to licensure, but shall meet the minimum standards for p…

(a) (1) Each person:(A) Applying to work with children as a paid employee with a child care agency as defined in § 37-5-501, or with the department in any position in which any significant contact with children is likely in the course of the person's employment; or(B) A new volun…

(a) (1) Notwithstanding § 71-3-503 or § 37-5-503, the department has the authority and responsibility to fully investigate, in accordance with chapter 1, parts 1, 4 and 6 of this title, any allegation of abuse, neglect or sexual abuse that it receives regarding any child or child…

(a) (1) It is the duty of the department, through its duly authorized agents, to inspect at regular intervals, without previous notice, all child care agencies or suspected child care agencies, as defined in § 37-5-501.(2) It is the duty of the department, through its duly author…

(a) If any complaint is made to the department concerning any alleged violation of the laws or regulations governing a child care agency, the department shall investigate such complaint and shall take such action as it deems necessary to protect the children in the care of such a…

Actions by the department to deny or revoke or to otherwise limit any license, except for the summary suspension of a license, shall be reviewed by the child care agency board of review established pursuant to title 71, chapter 3, part 5.

(a) The commissioner 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 agency defined in t…

(a) An agency shall prepare a written plan for each child in foster care and each child placed in its care by voluntary agreement. Such plans shall be prepared at the time a child comes under the supervision of the agency. Such plan shall be subject to review by the department. F…

(a) Each child care agency shall make an annual report of its work to the department on a form as the department prescribes by rule. (b) The department shall prepare and supply to all child care agencies the necessary printed forms to record the requested information. (c) An agen…

(a) The department shall prepare a comprehensive annual report of the status of child care agencies within the state subject to its jurisdiction, accompanied by special comments and recommendations, and the department shall publish the report on the department's website for the p…

(a) (1) An individual or entity operating a nontraditional child care agency that serves or intends to serve children must be licensed by the department as provided by this section.(2) (A) The department may issue rules pursuant to the Uniform Administrative Procedures Act, compi…

(a) A child has a cause of action against a nontraditional child care agency that authorizes an individual to be present on the premises of the child care agency and the authorized individual inflicts abuse, neglect, or sexual abuse upon the child. (b) The attorney general and re…

(a) Within seventy-two (72) hours of beginning to provide care for a child who was transported across state lines to enter the agency's care and whose transport across state lines was not subject to the Interstate Compact for Juveniles, compiled in chapter 4, part 1 of this title…

The department shall notify the state board of education within three (3) business days of issuance of a license to a facility that intends to provide care, or provides care, to children who are transported across state lines to enter the facility's care and whose transport acros…

(1) As used in this part, unless the context requires otherwise:(1) “Family” means the members of a household living, on a full-time or a part-time basis, in one (1) house, condominium, apartment or other dwelling; people related by blood or ancestry, marriage, or adoption; any p…

(a) The purposes of this part are to safeguard and enhance the welfare of children and to preserve family life, by preventing harm and sexual abuse to children and by strengthening the ability of families to parent their children effectively through a multi-level response system …

(a) (1) No later than July 1, 2006, the department shall establish a demonstration program that conforms to the requirements of this part and carries out its purposes in at least three (3) but no more than five (5) areas of the state selected by the department. The multi-level re…