§ 407. Powers of department of social welfare. The department is
hereby authorized and required:

1. to prepare a plan or plans for such child welfare services and
upon their approval by such federal authority to execute the same. Such
plans shall make provision for coordination between the services
provided under such plans and the services provided as family assistance
under title ten of article five with the view of providing welfare and
related services which will best promote the welfare of children and
their families.

2. to allocate and disburse to districts, counties or other local
subdivisions of the state such amounts from moneys received by the state
under the provisions of this title as are available for payment of part
of the cost of district, county or other local child welfare services in
accordance with such approved plans. Such district, county and other
local subdivisions of the state are hereby authorized to receive and
expend such allotments but only for the purposes of such plans and
subject to the supervision and general direction of the department.
Such district, county and other local subdivisions shall, when required
by the department to comply with the provisions of such approved plan,
perform the functions required.

3. to develop within the department services for the encouragement
and assistance of adequate methods of community child welfare
organization in accordance with such approved plans.

4. to establish and to alter and amend such regulations as may be
necessary for the administration of such plans and the provisions of
this title.

5. to prepare for inclusion in the annual report required by
subdivision (d) of section seventeen of this chapter to be filed with
the governor and the legislature prior to the fifteenth day of December
of each year, a written evaluation report of the delivery of child
welfare services in the state. Such evaluation report shall include,
but need not be limited to, supervision of foster care and the agencies
providing such care, information on the types of problems creating the
need for foster care placements, preventive and protective services, the
transfer of children in care and the reasons therefor, identification of
target groups not receiving adequate services, and projected plans for
providing services to such groups. Such report shall include progress
made and problems encountered in the implementation of "the child
welfare reform act of 1979", and amendments thereto. Such report shall
also include aggregate expenditures; persons receiving services; cost
comparisons among social services districts, among types of services and
services programs, and among fiscal periods; unit costs; and
cost-effectiveness of the provision of preventive services pursuant to
title four of this chapter. In developing such evaluation, the
department shall consult and coordinate with the board of social
welfare, the division for youth, and the departments of mental hygiene,
health and education.