The goal of foster care is a permanent home for each child. Returning to his or her own home is the first choice, followed by going to a relative's home. The next choice would be adoption or permanent foster care. The Department actively recruits families to provide homes to children who are unable to reside in their own home due to abuse or neglect. Foster parents provide a stable structured environment to assist children with the difficulty of being separated from their parents.
Numerous services are necessary for homeless children to become permanent members of a family unit.
Registries of families studied and approved for adoption and of children available for adoption are maintained, while a variety of efforts attempt to bring these families and children together. Reports of abuse and neglect of children under 18 are investigated with the goal of protecting children from physical, mental, sexual, emotional, and medical neglect, and from abuse and exploitation. Day care in approved homes or centers can be arranged so that parents can become employed or train for employment or when parents must be absent from home in an emergency. Day care can also provide substitute care for children needing protection. Certain preventive health services are available for Medicaid recipients under 21 years of age.