Section 316.110  The Department's Role in the Juvenile Court

a)         The Department shall inform the Juvenile Court of the Department's permanency goal planning for the youth in care and families it serves and their progress toward those goals.

b)         When in the juvenile court, the Department shall provide information and recommendations to the court and the parties and shall recommend the court keep families together in all instances when it is consistent with the youth in care's best interests, health, safety, and well-being.  In those instances when children or youth must be removed from their parent's care, the Department shall recommend that the court reunite youth in care with their families as soon as returning home is consistent with their best interests, health, safety, and well-being.  Finally, when it is clear to the Department the youth in care's health and safety needs cannot be met by the parents and it is in the youth in care's best interests, the Department will provide that information to the court and recommend that the court establish other permanency goals.

c)         When the Department Guardianship Administrator is appointed as the temporary custodian of a youth in care whose siblings are in substitute care and the youth in care and all the siblings are not placed together, the Department shall file with the court and serve on the parties a Visitation and Contact Plan within 10 days, excluding weekends and holidays, after the appointment.

d)         When the Department has legal responsibility for a child, a representative of the Department or its contributing agency shall attend all hearings required by the court.  At each hearing the Department or its contributing agency shall provide information relating to the youth in care's placement, best interests, health, safety, and well-being, and make any appropriate recommendations.  Such hearings include:

1)         the temporary custody hearing;

2)         the adjudicatory hearing;

3)         the dispositional hearing;

4)         permanency hearings; and

5)         all other hearings the court may require.

(Source:  Amended at 50 Ill. Reg. 1021, effective January 7, 2026)