As Amended
SEC. 43-15-5. Administration of child welfare services.
(1) The State Department of Public Welfare shall have authority and it shall be its duty to administer or supervise all public child welfare services, including those services, responsibilities, duties and powers with which the county departments of public welfare are charged and empowered in this chapter; administer and supervise the licensing and inspection of all private child placing agencies; provide for the care of dependent and neglected children in foster family homes or in institutions, supervise the care of such children and those of illegitimate birth; supervise the importation of children; and supervise the operation of all state institutions for children. The State Department of Public Welfare shall be authorized to purchase hospital and medical insurance coverage for those children placed in foster care by the state or county departments of public welfare who are not otherwise eligible for medical assistance under the Mississippi Medicaid Law. The State Department of Public Welfare shall be further authorized to purchase burial or life insurance not exceeding One Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($1,500.00) for those children placed in foster care by the state or county departments of public welfare. All insurance coverage authorizedherein may be purchased with any funds other than state funds available to the State Department of Public Welfare, including those funds available to the child which are administered by the department.
(2) Any person, partnership, group, corporation, organization or association desiring to operate a child residential home, as defined in Section 43-16-3, may make application for a license for such a facility to the State Department of Public Welfare on the application forms furnished for this purpose by the department. If an applicant meets the published rules and regulations of the department regarding minimum standards for a child residential home, then the applicant shall be granted a license by the department.
SOURCES: Codes, 1942, Sec. 7170-01; Laws, 1938, ch. 172; 1946, ch. 419, Sec. 1; 1978, ch. 443, Sec. 1(1); 1982, ch. 416; 1989, ch. 493, Sec. 13, eff from and after July 1, 1989.