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Sen. Julie A. Morrison
Filed: 4/15/2021
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1 | | AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 755
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2 | | AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend Senate Bill 755 by replacing |
3 | | everything after the enacting clause with the following:
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4 | | "Section 5. The Children and Family Services Act is |
5 | | amended by changing Section 5e and by adding Section 6b-1 as |
6 | | follows:
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7 | | (20 ILCS 505/5e)
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8 | | Sec. 5e. Advocacy Office for Children and Families. |
9 | | (a) The
Department of Children and Family Services shall |
10 | | establish and maintain
an Advocacy Office for Children and |
11 | | Families that shall, in addition to
other duties assigned by |
12 | | the Director, receive and respond to complaints
that may be |
13 | | filed by children, parents, caretakers, and relatives of |
14 | | children
receiving child welfare services from the Department |
15 | | of Children and
Family Services or its agents. The Department |
16 | | shall promulgate policies
and procedures for filing, |
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1 | | processing, investigating, and resolving the
complaints. The |
2 | | Department shall make a final report to the complainant
of its |
3 | | findings. If a final report is not completed, the Department |
4 | | shall
report on its disposition every 30 days. |
5 | | (b) If a youth in care, current foster parent or |
6 | | caregiver, or caseworker requests the information, the |
7 | | Advocacy Office shall make available the name, electronic mail |
8 | | address, and telephone number for each youth's court-appointed |
9 | | guardian ad litem and, if applicable, the guardian ad litem's |
10 | | supervisor. |
11 | | (c) The Advocacy Office shall include
a statewide |
12 | | toll-free telephone number and an electronic mail address that |
13 | | may be used to file complaints,
or to obtain information about |
14 | | the delivery of child welfare services by the
Department or |
15 | | its agents , and to obtain the contact information for the |
16 | | guardian ad litem . This telephone number and electronic mail |
17 | | address shall be included in all
appropriate notices and |
18 | | handbooks regarding services available through
the Department.
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19 | | (d) The Department shall provide a flyer to all youth |
20 | | entering care describing the responsibilities of the Advocacy |
21 | | Office listed in this Section, the toll-free telephone number |
22 | | and electronic mailing address for the Advocacy Office, and a |
23 | | description of the role of a guardian ad litem. The Department |
24 | | shall also provide this flyer to youth at every administrative |
25 | | case review. |
26 | | (Source: P.A. 92-334, eff. 8-10-01; 92-651, eff. 7-11-02.)
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1 | | (20 ILCS 505/6b-1 new) |
2 | | Sec. 6b-1. Maintaining and tracking information on |
3 | | guardians ad litem. The Department must maintain the name, |
4 | | electronic mail address, and telephone number for each youth |
5 | | in care's court-appointed guardian ad litem and, if |
6 | | applicable, the guardian ad litem's supervisor. The Department |
7 | | must update this contact information within 5 days of |
8 | | receiving notice of a change. The Advocacy Office for Children |
9 | | and Families, established pursuant to Section 5e, must make |
10 | | this contact information available to the youth in care, |
11 | | current foster parent or caregiver, or caseworker, if |
12 | | requested. By December 31, 2021, the Department shall adopt |
13 | | rules for maintaining and providing this information. |
14 | | Section 10. The Juvenile Court Act of 1987 is amended by |
15 | | changing Section 2-17 as follows:
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16 | | (705 ILCS 405/2-17) (from Ch. 37, par. 802-17)
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17 | | Sec. 2-17. Guardian ad litem.
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18 | | (1) Immediately upon the filing of a petition alleging |
19 | | that the minor is
a person described in Sections 2-3 or 2-4 of |
20 | | this Article, the court shall
appoint a guardian ad litem for |
21 | | the minor if:
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22 | | (a) such petition alleges that the minor is an abused |
23 | | or neglected
child; or
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1 | | (b) such petition alleges that charges alleging the |
2 | | commission
of any of the sex offenses defined in Article |
3 | | 11 or in Sections 11-1.20, 11-1.30, 11-1.40, 11-1.50, |
4 | | 11-1.60, 12-13,
12-14,
12-14.1,
12-15 or 12-16 of the |
5 | | Criminal Code of 1961 or the Criminal Code of 2012, have |
6 | | been
filed against a defendant in any court and that such |
7 | | minor is the alleged
victim of the acts of defendant in the |
8 | | commission of such offense.
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9 | | Unless the guardian ad litem appointed pursuant to this |
10 | | paragraph
(1) is an attorney at law, he or she shall be |
11 | | represented in the performance
of his or her duties by |
12 | | counsel. The guardian ad litem shall represent the best
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13 | | interests of the minor and shall present recommendations to |
14 | | the court
consistent with that duty.
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15 | | (2) Before proceeding with the hearing, the court shall
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16 | | appoint a guardian ad litem for the minor if:
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17 | | (a) no parent, guardian, custodian or relative of the |
18 | | minor appears
at the first or any subsequent hearing of |
19 | | the case;
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20 | | (b) the petition prays for the appointment of a |
21 | | guardian with power
to consent to adoption; or
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22 | | (c) the petition for which the minor is before the |
23 | | court resulted
from a report made pursuant to the Abused |
24 | | and Neglected Child Reporting
Act.
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25 | | (3) The court may appoint a guardian ad litem for the minor |
26 | | whenever
it finds that there may be a conflict of interest |
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1 | | between the minor and
his parents or other custodian or that it |
2 | | is otherwise in the minor's
best interest to do so.
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3 | | (4) Unless the guardian ad litem is an attorney, he or she |
4 | | shall be
represented by counsel. |
5 | | (4.5) Pursuant to Section 6b-1 of the Children and Family |
6 | | Services Act, the Department of Children and Family Services |
7 | | must maintain the name, electronic mail address, and telephone |
8 | | number for each minor's court-appointed guardian ad litem and, |
9 | | if applicable, the guardian ad litem's supervisor. The |
10 | | Department of Children and Family Services must update this |
11 | | contact information within 5 days of receiving notice of a |
12 | | change. The Advocacy Office for Children and Families, |
13 | | established pursuant to Section 5e of the Children and Family |
14 | | Services Act, must make this contact information available to |
15 | | the minor, current foster parent or caregiver, or caseworker, |
16 | | if requested.
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17 | | (5) The reasonable fees of a guardian ad litem appointed |
18 | | under this
Section shall be fixed by the court and charged to |
19 | | the parents of the
minor, to the extent they are able to pay. |
20 | | If the parents are unable to
pay those fees, they shall be paid |
21 | | from the general fund of the county.
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22 | | (6) A guardian ad litem appointed under this Section, |
23 | | shall receive
copies of any and all classified reports of |
24 | | child abuse and neglect made
under the Abused and Neglected |
25 | | Child Reporting Act in which the minor who
is the subject of a |
26 | | report under the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting
Act, is |
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1 | | also the minor for whom the guardian ad litem is appointed |
2 | | under
this Section.
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3 | | (6.5) A guardian ad litem appointed under this Section or |
4 | | attorney appointed under this Act shall receive a copy of each |
5 | | significant event report that involves the minor no later than |
6 | | 3 days after the Department learns of an event requiring a |
7 | | significant event report to be written, or earlier as required |
8 | | by Department rule. |
9 | | (7) The appointed
guardian ad
litem shall remain the |
10 | | minor's child's guardian ad litem throughout the entire |
11 | | juvenile
trial court
proceedings, including permanency |
12 | | hearings and termination of parental rights
proceedings, |
13 | | unless there is a substitution entered by order of the court.
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14 | | (8) The guardian
ad
litem or an agent of the guardian ad |
15 | | litem shall have a minimum of one
in-person contact with the |
16 | | minor and one contact with one
of the
current foster parents or |
17 | | caregivers prior to the
adjudicatory hearing, and at
least one |
18 | | additional in-person contact with the child and one contact |
19 | | with
one of the
current foster
parents or caregivers after the |
20 | | adjudicatory hearing but
prior to the first permanency hearing
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21 | | and one additional in-person contact with the child and one |
22 | | contact with one
of the current
foster parents or caregivers |
23 | | each subsequent year. For good cause shown, the
judge may |
24 | | excuse face-to-face interviews required in this subsection.
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25 | | (9) In counties with a population of 100,000 or more but |
26 | | less than
3,000,000, each guardian ad litem must successfully |
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1 | | complete a training program
approved by the Department of |
2 | | Children and Family Services. The Department of
Children and |
3 | | Family Services shall provide training materials and documents |
4 | | to
guardians ad litem who are not mandated to attend the |
5 | | training program. The
Department of Children and Family |
6 | | Services shall develop
and
distribute to all guardians ad |
7 | | litem a bibliography containing information
including but not |
8 | | limited to the juvenile court process, termination of
parental |
9 | | rights, child development, medical aspects of child abuse, and |
10 | | the
child's need for safety and permanence.
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11 | | (Source: P.A. 100-689, eff. 1-1-19; 101-81, eff. 7-12-19.)
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12 | | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon |
13 | | becoming law.".
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