P.R. Laws tit. 3, § 211i
The Secretary is hereby empowered to enter into contracts or agreements that are necessary and convenient in order to achieve the objectives of the Department and its programs, with entities of the Government of the United States of America, or with Commonwealth governments, with other departments, agencies or instrumentalities of the Commonwealth Government, its municipalities and with private institutions; he is likewise empowered to accept and receive any gifts or funds through appropriations, advances or any other kind of aid or benefit when derived from said government organizations or nonprofit institutions.
The Secretary of the Family is hereby empowered to contract social workers, psychiatrists or psychologists licensed to practice their profession in Puerto Rico, so that they can carry out the expert social study and render the corresponding report required by the adoption proceedings established in this chapter. The Secretary shall establish, through regulations, the norms needed to contract these professionals.
When adopting these regulations the Secretary of the Department of the Family shall ensure that norms are included regarding the following matters as well as any others that he/she may deem to be pertinent:
(a) The persons selected:
(1) Shall be professionals with a degree in social work presently licensed and affiliated to the Association of Social Workers.
(2) Shall have special training on research and drafting of social reports.
(3) Shall have knowledge and be acquainted with the adoption laws and other adoption norms and regulations in effect in Puerto Rico.
(b) Private contracts shall only be entered into when qualified personnel employed by the Department of the Family deems that it cannot submit the expert social report within the term required due to a heavy work load.
(c) Professionals employed or contracted by the Department of the Family to perform the studies shall enjoy freedom of judgment as to the manner and means by which they shall conduct their research and shall have flexibility in submitting their recommendations.
(d) Norms shall be established guaranteeing that the professional employed or contracted shall be able to take preventive and corrective measures during the adoption process in order to guarantee the safety of the minor, including the initiation of the petition for the divesting of patria potestas.
(e) Norms which establish a continuous education program for the social workers to pursue studies leading to a masters degree in social work, underwritten by the Department.
(f) Norms leading to the creation of a mechanism to expedite cases, in order to ensure that those cases whose term is about to expire may be salvaged and worked on summarily.
(g) Norms leading to the certification of private entities which may provide guardianship and temporary care services for those minors who are susceptible to adoption and to the joint implementation, with the Association of Social Workers, of a plan for the placement of children for periods not to exceed twelve (12) months.
(h) The preparation of guidelines to serve as parameters so that the social workers in charge of the reports may produce them uniformly.
History —June 30, 1968, No. 171, p. 614, § 10; May 21, 1994, No. 23, § 1; Jan. 19, 1995, No. 9, § 21.