# Family Law (GFL)

## Title 5. Children

### Subtitle 5. Child Care; Foster Care

#### Section 5-524

The Administration shall provide child welfare services to a child and the child's parent or guardian:

(1) to assist in preventing the necessity of placing the child outside of the child's home;

(2) to reunite the child with the child's parent or guardian after the child has been placed in foster care; or

(3) if the child has been placed in foster care and cannot return to the child's parent or guardian, to develop and implement an alternative permanent plan for the child.

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Md. Code Ann., Fam. Law (as displayed at mgaleg.maryland.gov, October 16, 2026)