1. A. The purpose of In-Home Family Services is to:

   1. (1) Promote the safety and well-being of children and their families;
   2. (2) Preserve family unity where children's safety can be supported;
   3. (3) Maintain permanency for children; and
   4. (4) Empower families to achieve or sustain independence and self-sufficiency.

2. B. The goals of In-Home Family Services include:

   1. (1) Enhancing the parents' ability to create a safe, stable, and nurturing home environment that promotes healthy child development;
   2. (2) Preventing out-of-home placement of children when safety can be promoted to a sufficient proportion; and
   3. (3) Providing, referring to, and coordinating services needed to achieve or maintain family safety, stability, independence, and unity.

3. C. The Department provides a continuum of service programs designed to achieve the purposes and goals of In-Home Family Services and meet the needs of individual families. The programs include:

   1. (1) Services to Families with Children—Central Intake (SFC-I) or Family Support Services (FSS), as described in Regulation .04 of this chapter;
   2. (2) Services to Families with Children—Continuing (SFC-C), as described in Regulation .05 of this chapter;
   3. (3) Intensive Family Services (IFS), as described in Regulation .06 of this chapter;
   4. (4) Families Now, as described in Regulation .07 of this chapter;
   5. (5) Continuing Protective Services, as described in Regulation .08 of this chapter; and
   6. (6) Consolidated Family Services, as described in Regulation .09 of this chapter.

4. D. In each program specified in §C of this regulation, services shall be:

   1. (1) Child safety based;
   2. (2) Family focused;
   3. (3) Dedicated to work with families as partners;
   4. (4) Built on respect of the family;
   5. (5) Designed to build on family strengths and unity within the context of the family's culture and community;
   6. (6) Dedicated to prevent, reduce, or eliminate behaviors, institutional practices, and community conditions that may place a child, family, or community at risk of maltreatment;
   7. (7) Primarily provided in the home or community;
   8. (8) Flexible and based on the changing needs of families and children at various times in their lives;
   9. (9) Timely; and
   10. (10) Designed to achieve measurable outcomes.

5. E. The local department may terminate services with the family at any time during the course of the intervention when:

   1. (1) The goals have been met and the safety issues have been resolved;
   2. (2) There has been a referral to another unit or agency for service; or
   3. (3) The family declines or fails to accept service, safety is not an issue, and other intervention is not warranted.

Authority: Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article, §§3-801—3-820; Family Law Article, §§5-524, 5-525, 5-704, 5-709—5-713; Annotated Code of Maryland
Agency Note: Federal Regulatory Reference: 42 U.S.C. §620 et seq.; 45 CFR 1355—1357

Effective date: May 4, 1979 (6:9 Md. R. 726)

Regulations .06E and .07 amended effective October 6, 1986 (13:20 Md. R. 2207)

Regulations .01—.09 repealed and new Regulations .01—.07 adopted effective January 8, 1990 (16:26 Md. R. 2787)

Regulations .01—.07 repealed and new Regulations .01—.11 adopted effective September 2, 2002 (29:17 Md. R. 1377)

Regulation .10C amended effective May 1, 2023 (50:8 Md. R. 337)