CHAPTER 466

An Act to amend and reenact §§ 68-68, 68-72.1, 68-78, 68-108, 68-106, as
severally amended, of the Code of Virginia, relating to child welfare
services of and the confidentiality of records of local boards of public
welfare; fees for representing applicants for public assistance; and
reimbursement of localities by State for expenditures for public as-
sistance and social services. :

[H 402]

Approved April 2, 1968

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That §§ 63-68, 63-72.1, 63-73, 63-103, 63-106, as severally amended,
of the Code of Virginia be amended and reenacted and that the Code of
virginia be amended by adding sections numbered 63-72.2 and 63-72.8 as
ollows:

§ 63-68. All records of the local boards and other information per-
taining to assistance and services provided any individual shall be con-
fidential and shall not be disclosed except to persons having a legal
interest and persons specified hereinafter and in § 68-246. The local boards
shall allow the Commissioner, the executive secretary of the Virginia Com-
mission for the Blind, and duly authorized agents and employees of each,
at all times to have access to the records of the local boards relating to
the appropriation, expenditure and distribution of funds for, and other
matters concerning, assistance under this title.

Notwithstanding any other provision of law or rule or regulation in
conflict herewith any citizen shall be afforded access, at the offices of the
local departments of welfare, during office hours, to records of the dis-
bursement of any funds or payments made or approved by the local board.
or department or division of public welfare in any county or city upon
signing a request therefor with applicant’s address. It shall be unlawful
for any person, firm, corporation or association to use any list or names
obtained directly or indirectly through access to such records for commer-
cial or political purposes, or to publish the name of any child receiving
assistance under the provisions of § 63-73 of the Code of Virginia, and
any person violating these provisions shall be guilty of a misdemeanor
and punished accordingly.

§ 63-72.1. Child welfare services.—Each local board of public wel-
fare is authorized to provide * subject to the supervision of the Commis-
sioner and in accordance with rules prescribed by the State Board, any or
all child welfare services herein described. For purposes of this section,
the term “child welfare services” means public social services which sup-
plement, or substitute for parental care and supervision for, the purpose
of (1) preventing or remedying, or assisting in the solution of problems
which may result in, the neglect, abuse, exploitation, or delinquency of
children; (2) protecting and caring for homeless, dependent, or neglected
children; (3) protecting and promoting the welfare of children of work-
ing mothers; and (4) otherwise protecting and promoting the welfare of
children, including the strengthening of their own homes where possible,
or, where needed, the provision of adequate care of children away from
their own homes in foster family homes or day care or other facilities.

x * *

Notwithstanding the foregoing, the State Board may authorize the
local boards to provide the services defined hereinabove when such serv-
wes are not available through other agencies serving residents in the
locality. The governing body of each county and city shall appropriate
such sum or sums of money as shall be sufficient to provide foster care
for children under the supervision of the local board and may appropriate
such sum or sums of money as it may deem necessary for such other essen-
tial social services to children and adults in such manner and under such
conditions as may be prescribed by the State Board in accordance with
federally reimbursed public assistance and social service programs.

§ 63-73. Accepting children for placing in homes or institutions;
care and control.—Any local board of public welfare shall have the right
to accept for placement in suitable family homes or institutions, subject
to the supervision of the Commissioner and in accordance with rules pre-
scribed by the State Board, such persons under eighteen years of age as
may be entrusted to it by the parent, parents or guardian, or committed
by any court of competent jurisdiction. Such local board of public welfare
shall, in accordance with the rules prescribed by the State Board and in
accordance with the parental agreement or other order by which such
person is entrusted or committed to its care, have custody and control of
the person so entrusted or committed to it until he is lawfully discharged,
has been adopted or has attained his majority; and such local board shall
have authority to place for adoption, and to consent to the adoption of,
any child properly committed or entrusted to its care when the order of
commitment or entrustment agreement between the parent or parents and
the agency provides for the permanent separation of such child from his
parent or parents.

Prior to placing any such child in any foster home, the local board
shall enter into a written agreement with the foster parents setting forth
therein the conditions under which the child is so placed. No child shall
be placed in a foster home outside this State by a local board without first
obtaining the written consent of the Commissioner so to do. The place-
ment of a child in a foster home, whether within or without the State,
shall not be for the purpose of adoption unless the placement agreement
between the foster parents and the local board specifically so stipulates.
A parent who has not reached the age of twenty-one shall have legal
capacity to execute an entrustment agreement including an agreement
which provides for the permanent separation of the child from the parent
and shall be as fully bound thereby as if the parent had attained the age
of twenty-one years.

§ 63-103. Fees for representing applicant or recipient.—* No person
shall make any charge or receive any fees for representing an applicant *
for or recipient of public assistance with respect to * his application or
request for increased assistance prior to a determination thereon by the
local board, whether such fee or charge be paid by the applicant or
recipient or any other person.

§ 63-106. (a) The Commissioner shall monthly reimburse each
county and city to the extent of one dollar of State money for each sixty
cents of local money expended for * assistance and not less than fifty per
centum of the local money expended for services including foster care
and day care services to children in the custody or under the super-
vision of the local board, except as otherwise provided by law. Such
funds as are received from the United States and agencies thereof as
grants-in-aid for the purpose of providing * assistance and services includ-
ing foster care and day care services to children in the custody or under
the supervision of the local board shall monthly be paid by the Commis-
Sioner to each county and city as reimbursement of the federal share of
such grants as have been paid by each county and city under the provi-
sions of this law. In any case where there shall be a board representing
two or more counties and/or cities as provided in § 63-51, the Commis-
sioner * shall monthly reimburse the localities represented by such board
as they may agree. Administrative expenditures incurred by the localities
in connection with * assistance and services including child welfare serv-
tces shall be ascertained by the State Board, and the Commissioner shall
monthly reimburse each county and city therefor out of State and federal
funds in an amount not less than fifty per centum nor more than sixty-
two and one-half per centum of such administrative costs.

(al) The Commissioner also shall reimburse monthly, to the extent
of funds available for such purpose, each county and city out of State
and federal funds, to the extent provided in the last sentence of the
preceding paragraph, for monthly rental charges for office space provided
the department of public welfare in publicly owned buildings, for char
which are based on the cost of initial construction or purchase of a build-
ing or a reasonable amount for depreciation of such building, and/or the
cost of repairs and alterations to either a privately or publicly owned
building, provided, however, that no monthly rental charge shall exceed
a@ reasonable amount as determined by the Commissioner.

(b) Claims for reimbursement shall be presented by the local board
to the Commissioner, and shall be itemized and verified in such manner as
the Commissioner may require. Such claim shall, upon the approval of the
Commissioner, be paid out of funds appropriated by the State and funds
received from the federal government for the purposes of this law, to the
treasurer or other fiscal officer of the county or city.