(1) The Department of Human Services shall have authority and it shall be its duty to administer or supervise all public child welfare services, including those services, responsibilities, duties and powers with which the county departments of human services are charged and empowered in this article; administer and supervise the licensing and inspection of all private child placing agencies; provide for the care of dependent and neglected children in foster family homes or in institutions, supervise the care of such children and those of illegitimate birth; supervise the importation of children; and supervise the operation of all state institutions for children. The Department of Human Services shall be authorized to purchase hospital and medical insurance coverage for those children placed in foster care by the state or county departments of human services who are not otherwise eligible for medical assistance under the Mississippi Medicaid Law. The Department of Human Services shall be further authorized to purchase burial or life insurance not exceeding One Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($1,500.00) for those children placed in foster care by the state or county departments of human services. All insurance coverage authorized herein may be purchased with any funds other than state funds available to the Department of Human Services, including those funds available to the child which are administered by the department.
(2) Any person, partnership, group, corporation, organization or association desiring to operate a child residential home, as defined in Section 43-16-3, may make application for a license for such a facility to the Department of Human Services on the application forms furnished for this purpose by the department. If an applicant meets the published rules and regulations of the department regarding minimum standards for a child residential home, then the applicant shall be granted a license by the department.