Delaware Code
Subchapter IV. Placement of Dependent Children
§ 351. DSCYF assessment required; exceptions.

(a) Before any person, institution, agency, association, corporation, or organization shall place or cause to be placed or shall receive or cause to be received or shall keep or retain in custody, for the purpose of continued free or wage boarding or otherwise, any dependent child residing in the State, such person, institution, agency, association, corporation, or organization must first obtain a written assessment of the proposed placement, conducted by DSCYF, or an agency licensed by the Department of Education, Office of Child Care Licensing.
(b) Subsection (a) of this section does not apply to any of the following:

(1) Child placement agencies regularly and duly authorized and licensed to place and receive dependent children in the State.
(2) Institutions regularly and duly authorized and licensed to take children under permanent care in the State.
(3) The homes in which such authorized and licensed child placement agencies or institutions place children.
(4) Privately endowed institutions supported wholly by private endowment and established to provide continued care for dependent children.
(c) An assessment of the proposed placement of a dependent child pursuant to subsection (a) of this section is not required by DSCYF, or an agency licensed by the Department of Education, Office of Child Care Licensing, if all of the following conditions are met:

(1) When the child is placed in a home of an “adult individual” who fails to meet the definition of “relative” in § 901 of Title 10 but the adult individual is by marriage, blood, or adoption the child's great-grandparent, stepgrandparent, great uncle or great aunt, half brother or half sister, stepbrother or stepsister, stepparent, or stepuncle or stepaunt to the extent not already included in the definition of “relative,” or first cousin once removed.
(2) When DSCYF has not currently filed, and does not intend to file, for custody of the child on the basis of dependency or neglect.
(3) When there have been no prior or present allegations of abuse or neglect regarding the adult individual with whom the child is placed.
(4) When DSCYF is not currently a party to a custody or visitation dispute regarding the child.
(5) When DSCYF does not hold or seek custody of the child.
(6) When the child meets the definition of “dependent child” solely because the child has been placed on a permanent basis in the home of an adult individual as described above and has been placed with such individual without an asessment by DSCYF, or an agency licensed by the Department of Education, Office of Child Care Licensing.
(d) This section does not limit the Family Court's jurisdiction to hear a petition for guardianship of a child pursuant to Chapter 23 of Title 13, including granting of emergency relief, nor does this section limit the Family Court's determination of appropriate placement for a child in DSCYF custody pursuant to § 521(1) of Title 13.

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