Section 37-2-1. Declaration of purpose

   (a) The State of Georgia recognizes its responsibility for its citizens who are mentally ill or developmentally disabled including individuals with epilepsy, cerebral palsy, autism, and other neurologically disabling conditions or who abuse alcohol, narcotics, or other drugs and recognizes an obligation to such citizens to meet their needs through a coordinated system of community facilities, programs, and services.

(b) It is the policy of this state to provide adequate mental health, developmental disability, addictive disease, and other disability services to all its citizens. It is further the policy of this state to provide such services through a unified system which encourages cooperation and sharing of resources among all providers of such services, both governmental and private.

(c) It is the purpose of this chapter to enable and encourage the development of comprehensive, preventive, early detection, habilitative, rehabilitative, and treatment disability services; to improve and expand community programs for the disabled; to provide continuity of care through integration of county, area, regional, and state services and facilities for the disabled; to provide for joint disability services and the sharing of manpower and other resources; and to monitor and restructure the system of providing disability services in the State of Georgia to make better use of the combined public and private resources of the state and local communities.

(d) The provisions of this chapter shall be liberally construed to achieve the objectives set forth in this Code section.

Code 1933, § 88-601, enacted by Ga. L. 1976, p. 953, § 1; Ga. L. 1986, p. 1213, § 1; Ga. L. 1993, p. 1445, § 16; Ga. L. 1995, p. 1302, § 17; Ga. L. 2002, p. 1324, § 1-7; Ga. L. 2009, p. 453, § 3-1/HB 228.