District of Columbia Code Division I. Government of District. § 4-1303.01a. Establishment and purposes of Child and Family Services Agency.

(1) Providing services that prevent family dissolution or breakdown, to avoid the need for protective services or out-of-home placements;

(2) Encouraging the reporting of child abuse and neglect;

(3) Receiving and responding to reports of child abuse and neglect;

(3A) Assessing child and family strengths and needs in response to reports of abuse and neglect;

(4) Removing children from their homes or other places, when necessary;

(5) Conducting a social service investigation of child abuse and neglect cases, immediately notifying the Metropolitan Police Department when the commission of a crime is suspected or when any person has been physically injured or placed at risk for physical injury, and cooperating with the criminal investigation;

(6) Safeguarding the rights and protecting the welfare of children whose parents, guardians, or custodians are unable to do so;

(7) Offering appropriate, adequate, and, when needed, highly specialized, diagnostic and treatment services and resources to children and families when there has been a supported finding of abuse or neglect;

(8) Ensuring the protection of children who have been abused or neglected from further experiences and conditions detrimental to their healthy growth and development;

(9) Providing parenting classes or family counseling and other services on behalf of the child designed to help parents recognize and remedy the conditions harmful to the child and to fulfill their parental roles more adequately;

(10) Obtaining substitute care for a child whose parents are unable, even with available help, to meet the child's minimum needs and, where appropriate, providing services to the family of such a child that are aimed at safely reuniting the family as quickly as possible; and

(11) Ensuring the timely permanent placement of the child consistent with the concurrent or alternative plan where reunification is not possible.