reglab/housing_qa huggingface dataset:
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 49 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 2 - Pharmaceutical Assistance to the Aged|§ 49. Rules and regulations; notices

 (a) The Commissioner is authorized to promulgate rules and regulations necessary to carry out the purposes of this chapter. (b) The Commissioner shall, within ninety (90) days from the date of enactment of this chapter and periodically thereafter, cause to be published in two (2) newspapers of general circulation within the Territory, notices informing the public of the existence of the Program established by this chapter, eligibility requirements, and procedures regarding usage of, and participation in, the Program.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 101 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 5 - Training Schools for Boys and Girls; Boarding or Foster Homes|§ 101. Establishment of training schools

 The Governor is authorized to establish such training schools for boys and for girls as may be approved by the Legislature, which shall be under the jurisdiction of the Department of Human Services .
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 102 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 5 - Training Schools for Boys and Girls; Boarding or Foster Homes|§ 102. Admission to training schools

 The training schools shall receive and provide institutional care for children who are dependent or neglected or children who are in danger of becoming dependent or neglected, who are placed therein by the Department of Human Services.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 103 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 5 - Training Schools for Boys and Girls; Boarding or Foster Homes|§ 103. Regulations; standards of care and training

 The Department of Human Services shall promulgate rules and regulations for the proper conduct and operation of the training schools, and shall provide thereat care and training which will meet the needs of the individual child, and which will conform to accepted modern standards of institutional care for children.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 104 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 5 - Training Schools for Boys and Girls; Boarding or Foster Homes|§ 104. Care and placement of juveniles; boarding or foster homes; fees

 (a) The Department of Human Services shall receive such children as may be committed to it by the District Court or the Superior Court, or upon application from parents or guardians; shall determine the type of care and placement needed by the individual child; and shall provide such care and placement, as facilities are available, including placement in the training schools or in boarding or foster homes. For the purposes of this section, a child is a person less than 18 years of age. (b) The Commissioner of Human Services, with the advice of the Board of Social Welfare and the approval of the Governor, is authorized to establish a schedule of fees for payment for foster care of children. The fees shall cover as nearly as possible the per capita cost of care based upon the need of the individual child; Provided, That a minimum of $40 per month, per child, is hereby established. The schedule of fees may be revised from time to time whenever changes in the cost of living may so warrant. Such schedule of fees or changes shall become effective if not disapproved by the Legislature within 30 days after the Legislature shall have received same, while in regular or special session. (c) The Commissioner shall require the payment of the cost of the maintenance of children in the training schools provided for by section 102 of this title in an amount based on the annual per capita cost of such care and the fee paid by the Department of Human Services for the foster care of children, in instances where the parents or relatives responsible by law for their support are financially able to make such payment; provided, that the amount of payment required shall be reduced, if necessary, to an amount within the ability of the parent or the responsible relative to pay. Payments received from parents for the foster care of children shall be deposited in the Foster Care of Children Fund, established by section 3029 of Title 33, from which payments for the foster care of children shall be made to foster parents.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 105 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 5 - Training Schools for Boys and Girls; Boarding or Foster Homes|§ 105. Duration of custody

 All children committed to the Department of Human Services or accepted into its custody upon application from parents or guardians shall remain in the custody of the Department of Human Services and subject to placement in its discretion, until released by order of the Department of Human Services or until they arrive at the age of 21 years, when discharge shall be mandatory, except that such custody may otherwise be terminated by the district court or the Superior Court.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 106 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 5 - Training Schools for Boys and Girls; Boarding or Foster Homes|§ 106. Instruction and training of children

 The Department of Education shall provide necessary and desirable academic instruction and instruction in manual and industrial arts for the children of the training schools, on plans and programs developed with and approved by the Department of Human Services. In all such instruction, emphasis shall be placed on meeting the needs of the individual child and on providing a practical basis for training which will enable the children to grow and develop into well adjusted, self-supporting citizens.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 107 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 5 - Training Schools for Boys and Girls; Boarding or Foster Homes|§ 107. Title

 This Act may be cited as the Family Preservation Services Act.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 108 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 5 - Training Schools for Boys and Girls; Boarding or Foster Homes|§ 108. Purpose

 (a) It is the intent of the Legislature to make available, within available funds, intensive services to children and families that are designed to prevent the unnecessary and imminent placement of children in foster care and to facilitate the reunification of children with their families. These services shall be known as family preservation services and are characterized by the following values, beliefs and goals: (1) The welfare and safety of the child is always paramount and always the first concern; (2) Children need their families and should be raised by their own families whenever possible; (3) Interventions should focus on family strengths and be responsible to individual family needs; and (4) Improvement of family functioning is essential in order to promote the child's health, safety and welfare and thereby allow the family to remain intact and allow children to remain at home. (5) Intensive short term concentration of comprehensive support coordinated by professional social workers should stabilize and diffuse crisis and foster self-sufficiency. (b) Subject to the availability of funds for such purposes, the Legislature intends for family preservation services to be made available to all eligible families through a phased-in process. Except as otherwise specified by statute, the Department of Human Services shall have the authority and discretion to implement and expand family preservation services according to a plan and time frame determined by the Department. (c) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to create an entitlement to services nor to create judicial authority to order providing family preservation services to any person or family before the Department has determined that such services are available or suitable or that the child or family is eligible for such services.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 109 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 5 - Training Schools for Boys and Girls; Boarding or Foster Homes|§ 109. Definitions

 As used in this act: (1) “Department” means the Department of Human Services. (2) “Family preservation services” means intensive, short term concentration of comprehensive support coordinated by professional social workers to stabilize family cruises, foster family self-sufficiency, and to reduce or avoid the need for unnecessary and imminent foster care placement. (3) “Foster care” means the placement of a child by the Department in a home or facility designated by the Department's rules and regulations as a “foster home”. (4) “Imminent” means a decision has been made by the Department that, without family preservation services, a petition requesting the removal of a child from the family home will be immediately filed in the Superior Court of the Virgin Islands, or that a voluntary placement agreement will be immediately initiated.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 111 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 5 - Training Schools for Boys and Girls; Boarding or Foster Homes|§ 111. Department responsibilities

 (a) The Department shall be the administrative agency responsible for family preservation services and may receive funding from any source for the implementation or expansion of such services. The Department shall: (1) Provide coordination and planning for the implementation and expansion of family preservation services; (2) Monitor and evaluate such services to determine whether the programs meet measurable standards specified by this Act and the Department; (b) In carrying out the requirements of subsection (a)(1) of this section, the Department may consult and coordinate with at least one qualified private, nonprofit agency that has demonstrated expertise and experience in family preservation services. (c) The Department may provide family preservation services directly in conjunction with other government agencies, and may, within available funds, contract with private, nonprofit, social service agencies to provide services, provided that such agencies meet measurable standards specified by this Act and by the Department. (d) The Department shall not continue to provide family preservation services unless it is demonstrated that providing such services prevents foster care placement in at least 70 percent of the cases served for a period of at least six months following termination of services. The Department shall not renew a contract with a service provider unless the provider can demonstrate that providing such services prevents foster care placement in at least 70 percent of the cases served for a period of at least six months following termination of service.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 112 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 5 - Training Schools for Boys and Girls; Boarding or Foster Homes|§ 112. Services rendered

 (a) Family preservation services may be provided to children and their families only when the Department has determined that: (1) The child has been placed in foster care or is at actual or imminent risk of foster care placement due to (i) Child abuse or neglect; (ii) A serious threat of substantial harm to the child's health, safety and welfare; or (iii) Serious family conflict; and (2) There are no other available services that will prevent foster care placement of a child or make it possible to immediately return the child to the home. (b) The Department shall refer eligible families to family preservation services on a 24 hour intake basis. The Department need not refer otherwise eligible families, and family preservation services need not be provided if: (1) The services cannot be provided because the program is filled to capacity and there are no current service openings; (2) The family refuses the service; (3) The Department or the agency that is supervising the foster care placement, has developed a case plan that does not include reunification of the child and family; or (4) The Department or the contracted service provider determines that the safety of a child, a family member, or persons providing the service would be unduly threatened. (c) Nothing in this Act shall prevent non-family members from receiving family preservation services when the Department or the service provider deems it necessary or appropriate to do so in order to assist the family or child.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 113 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 5 - Training Schools for Boys and Girls; Boarding or Foster Homes|§ 113. Authorized resources

 For the purpose of providing family preservation services to children who would otherwise be removed from their homes, the Department may: (1) Solicit and use any available federal or private resources, which may include funds, in-kind resources, or volunteer services.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 114 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 5 - Training Schools for Boys and Girls; Boarding or Foster Homes|§ 114. Existing contracts

 The Department providing family preservation services under section 111(c) of this title is not intended to replace existing contracts with private nonprofit social service agencies that provide family preservation services.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 122 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 6 - Interstate Placement of Children|§ 122. Financial responsibility

 Financial responsibility for any child placed pursuant to the provisions of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of Article V thereof in the first instance. However, in the event of partial or complete default of performance thereunder, the provisions of any other laws fixing responsibility for the support of children also may be invoked.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 123 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 6 - Interstate Placement of Children|§ 123. Appropriate public authorities

 The “appropriate public authorities” as used in Article III of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children shall, with reference to the Virgin Islands, mean the Department of Human Services with reference to placement in foster care or as a preliminary to a possible adoption and the Youth Services Administration with reference to institutional care of delinquent children. The Department of Human Services shall receive and act in response to notices required by said Article III with reference to placement in foster care or as a preliminary to a possible adoption. The Department of Human Services shall receive and act in response to the provisions of Article VI with reference to institutional care of delinquent children.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 124 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 6 - Interstate Placement of Children|§ 124. Appropriate authority in receiving state

 As used in paragraph (a) of Article V of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children, the phrase “appropriate authority in receiving state” shall mean the Department of Human Services with reference to placement in foster care or as a placement to a possible adoption and the Department of Human Services with reference to institutional care of delinquent children.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 125 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 6 - Interstate Placement of Children|§ 125. Agreements

 The officers and agencies of the Virgin Islands having authority to place children are hereby empowered to enter into agreements with appropriate officers or agencies of or in other party states pursuant to paragraph (b) of Article V of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children. Any such agreement which contains a financial commitment or imposes a financial obligation on the Government of the Virgin Islands shall not be binding unless it has the approval in writing of the Governor, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, the Attorney General and the Commissioner of Property and Procurement.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 126 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 6 - Interstate Placement of Children|§ 126. Court jurisdiction

 Any court having jurisdiction to place delinquent children may place such a child in an institution in another state pursuant to Article VI of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children and shall retain jurisdiction as provided in Article V thereof.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 127 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 6 - Interstate Placement of Children|§ 127. Executive head defined

 As used in this Article VII of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children, the term “executive head” means the Governor. The Governor is hereby authorized to appoint a Compact Administrator, with the advice and consent of the Legislature, in accordance with the terms of Article VII and who shall have responsibility for promulgating, in cooperation with the Department of Human Services, rules and regulations for implementing the provisions of the Compact.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 201 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 8 - Victim's and Witness' Bill of Rights|§ 201. Legislative intent

 In recognition of the civic and moral duty of victims and witnesses of crime to fully and voluntarily cooperate with law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies, and in further recognition of the continuing importance of this citizen cooperation to Territorial and Federal law enforcement efforts, and to the general effectiveness and well-being of the criminal justice system of the United States Virgin Islands, the Legislature declares its intent, in this chapter, to ensure that all victims and witnesses of crime are treated with dignity, respect, courtesy, and sensitivity; that the rights extended in this chapter to victims and witnesses are honored and protected by law enforcement agencies, prosecutors and judges in a manner no less vigorous than the protections afforded criminal defendants; and that the Territory has a responsibility to provide support to a network of services for victims of crime, including victims of domestic violence and criminal sexual assault.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 202 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 8 - Victim's and Witness' Bill of Rights|§ 202. Definitions

 As used in this chapter (1) “Victim” means a person who suffers direct or threatened physical, emotional, or financial harm as the result of the commission or attempted commission of a crime against him. The term “victim” also includes the immediate family members of a crime victim who is a minor or who is physically or emotionally incapacitated as a result of the crime. (2) “Witness” means any person who has been or is expected to be summoned to testify for either the prosecution or the defense, or who by reason of having relevant information is subject to call or likely to be called as a witness for the prosecution or defense, whether or not any action or proceeding has yet been commenced.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 204 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 8 - Victim's and Witness' Bill of Rights|§ 204. Cause of action not created

 Nothing in section 203 of this chapter shall create a cause of action on behalf of any person against any Territorial or Federal Government employee or agency or the Government of the United States Virgin Islands or the United States of America or any agency responsible for the rights and provision of services set forth in this chapter.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 206 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 8 - Victim's and Witness' Bill of Rights|§ 206. Medical examination of victims of sexual assault; costs

 (a) The Government of the United States Virgin Islands shall ensure that alleged victims of criminal sexual conduct, in any degree, or child sexual abuse shall not bear the cost of the routine medicolegal exam following the assault, provided the victim has filed an incident report with the U.S. Virgin Islands Police Department. (b) These exams must be standardized relevant to medical treatment and to gathering evidence from the body of the victim and must be based on and must meet minimum standards for rape exam protocol as developed by the U.S. Virgin Islands Police Department. These exams shall include treatment for venereal disease, and shall include medication for pregnancy prevention if indicated and if desired. The U.S. Virgin Islands Police Department shall distribute these exam kits to any licensed health care facility providing sexual assault exams. When dealing with a victim of criminal sexual assault, the law enforcement agency shall immediately transport the victim to the nearest licensed health care facility which performs sexual assault exams. Any health care facility providing sexual assault exams shall use the standardized protocol described above. (c) A licensed health care facility, upon completion of a routine sexual assault exam, as described in (b) above, performed on an alleged victim of criminal sexual conduct in any degree or of child sexual abuse, provided the crime occurred in the United States Virgin Islands, may file a claim for reimbursement directly to the Virgin Islands Criminal Victims Compensation Commission. The Virgin Islands Criminal Victims Compensation Commission shall develop procedures for health care facilities to follow when filing a claim with respect to the privacy of the victim. Health care facility personnel shall obtain any information necessary for the claim at the time of the exam if possible. The Virgin Islands Criminal Victims Compensation Commission shall reimburse eligible health care facilities directly.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 251 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 9 - Vocational Rehabilitation|§ 251. Purpose

 It is the purpose of the Virgin Islands to provide vocational rehabilitation services to physically handicapped individuals of the Virgin Islands so that they may prepare for and engage in useful and remunerative occupations to the extent of their capabilities, thus increasing their social and economic well-being and the productive capacity of the Virgin Islands and reducing the burden of dependency on families and taxpayers.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 253 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 9 - Vocational Rehabilitation|§ 253. Administration of program

 The Department of Human Services shall be the sole agency for the administration, in the Virgin Islands, of the vocational rehabilitation program provided for by this chapter, and by the Federal Vocational Rehabilitation Act and all acts of Congress amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 255 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 9 - Vocational Rehabilitation|§ 255. Receipt and disbursement of Federal funds

 The Commissioner of Finance shall be the custodian of all funds received from the Federal Government for the purpose of carrying out any Federal statutes pertaining to the purpose of this chapter, and shall make disbursements from such funds and from all Virgin Islands funds available for such purpose upon certification in the manner provided in section 254(b)(7) of this title.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 256 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 9 - Vocational Rehabilitation|§ 256. Gifts

 The Department of Human Services may accept and use gifts unconditionally by will or otherwise for carrying out the purpose of this chapter. Gifts made under such conditions as in the judgment of the Department are proper and consistent with the provisions of this chapter may be so accepted and shall be held, invested, reinvested, and used in accordance with the conditions of the gift.
V.I. Code tit. 34, § 257 (2019)
2019 US Virgin Islands Code|Title 34 - Welfare|Chapter 9 - Vocational Rehabilitation|§ 257. Eligibility for services

 Vocational rehabilitation services shall be provided to any physically handicapped individual, including any civil employee of the United States disabled while in the performance of his duty, who, at the time of filing his application therefor, resides in the Virgin Islands; Provided, That where necessary to achieve the vocational rehabilitation of an individual such vocational rehabilitation services shall, in any event, include physical restoration in addition to training, maintenance, placement and guidance.