The Department of Children and Families (DCF) has three principal
areas of responsibility: child protective services, children's behavioral
health, and juvenile justice. Child protective services involves investigating
reports of abuse or neglect, removing children from their home if necessary and
placing them in foster care, attempting to reunify children and their parents,
or terminating the parents' rights to their children and finding permanent
placements for them. Protecting the children is their primary
responsibility.