(b) A local social services official may provide or purchase day services for a child and his family when it has been determined by the social services official that such services would accomplish one or more of the following objectives:

1. (1) avert a risk of serious impairment or disruption of a family unit which would result in the placement of a child outside his home;
2. (2) enable a child who has been placed in a child-caring institution or other group facility to be placed in a foster care setting more closely oriented to the community or family life; or
3. (3) enable a child who has been placed in foster care to return to his family at an earlier time than would otherwise be possible.