Full Text of HB2787 98th General Assembly
HB2787eng 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | AN ACT concerning children.
| 2 | | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
| 3 | | represented in the General Assembly:
| 4 | | Section 5. The Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act is | 5 | | amended by changing Sections 7.7, 7.14, 7.16, and 7.21 and by | 6 | | adding Section 7.22 as follows:
| 7 | | (325 ILCS 5/7.7) (from Ch. 23, par. 2057.7)
| 8 | | Sec. 7.7.
There shall be a central register of all cases of | 9 | | suspected
child abuse or neglect reported and maintained by the | 10 | | Department under this
Act. Through the recording of initial, | 11 | | preliminary, and final
reports, the central register shall be | 12 | | operated in such a manner as to enable
the Department to: (1) | 13 | | immediately identify and locate prior reports of
child abuse or | 14 | | neglect; (2) continuously monitor the current status
of all | 15 | | reports of child abuse or neglect being provided services under | 16 | | this
Act; and (3) regularly evaluate the effectiveness of | 17 | | existing laws and programs
through the development and analysis | 18 | | of statistical and other information.
| 19 | | The Department shall maintain in the central register a | 20 | | listing of unfounded
reports where the subject of the unfounded | 21 | | report requests that the record
not be expunged because the | 22 | | subject alleges an intentional false report
was made. Such a | 23 | | request must be made by the subject in writing to the
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| 1 | | Department, within 10 days of the investigation. By January 1, | 2 | | 2014, the Department shall promulgate rules establishing | 3 | | criteria and standards for labeling an unfounded report as an | 4 | | intentional false report in the central register. The rules | 5 | | shall permit the reporter to submit a statement regarding the | 6 | | report unless the reporter has been convicted of knowingly | 7 | | transmitting a false report to the Department under paragraph | 8 | | (7) of subsection (a) of Section 26-1 of the Criminal Code of | 9 | | 2012.
| 10 | | The Department shall also maintain in the central register | 11 | | a listing of
unfounded reports where the report was classified | 12 | | as a priority one or priority
two report in accordance with the | 13 | | Department's rules or the report was made by
a person mandated | 14 | | to report suspected abuse or neglect under this Act.
| 15 | | The Department shall maintain in the central register for 3 | 16 | | years a listing
of unfounded reports involving the death of a | 17 | | child, the sexual abuse of a
child, or serious physical injury | 18 | | to a child as defined by the Department in
rules.
| 19 | | If an individual is the subject of a subsequent | 20 | | investigation that is pending, the Department shall maintain | 21 | | all prior unfounded reports pertaining to that individual until | 22 | | the pending investigation has been completed or for 12 months, | 23 | | whichever time period ends later. | 24 | | The Department shall maintain all other unfounded reports | 25 | | for 12 months following the date of the final finding. | 26 | | For purposes of this Section "child abuse or neglect" |
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| 1 | | includes abuse or neglect of an adult resident as defined in | 2 | | this Act. | 3 | | (Source: P.A. 96-1164, eff. 7-21-10; 96-1446, eff. 8-20-10; | 4 | | 97-333, eff. 8-12-11; 97-1089, eff. 8-24-12.)
| 5 | | (325 ILCS 5/7.14) (from Ch. 23, par. 2057.14)
| 6 | | Sec. 7.14. All reports in the central register shall be | 7 | | classified in one
of three categories: "indicated", | 8 | | "unfounded" or "undetermined", as the
case may be. After the | 9 | | report is classified, the person making the
classification | 10 | | shall determine whether the child named in the
report is the | 11 | | subject of an action under Article II of the Juvenile Court
Act | 12 | | of 1987. If the child is the subject of an action under Article | 13 | | II of the
Juvenile Court Act, the Department shall , within 45 | 14 | | days of classification of the report, transmit a copy of the | 15 | | report to
the guardian ad litem appointed for the child under | 16 | | Section 2-17 of the
Juvenile Court Act. All information | 17 | | identifying the subjects of an unfounded
report shall be | 18 | | expunged from the register
forthwith, except as provided in | 19 | | Section 7.7.
Unfounded reports may only be made available to | 20 | | the Child
Protective Service Unit when investigating a | 21 | | subsequent report of suspected
abuse or maltreatment involving | 22 | | a child named in the unfounded report; and to
the subject of | 23 | | the report, provided the Department has not expunged the file | 24 | | in accordance with Section 7.7. The Child Protective
Service | 25 | | Unit shall not indicate the subsequent report solely based upon |
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| 1 | | the
existence of the prior unfounded report or reports. | 2 | | Notwithstanding any other
provision of law to the contrary, an | 3 | | unfounded report shall not be admissible
in any judicial or | 4 | | administrative proceeding or action.
Identifying information | 5 | | on all other records shall be
removed from the register no | 6 | | later than 5 years after the report is indicated.
However, if | 7 | | another report is received involving the same child, his | 8 | | sibling
or offspring, or a child in the care of the persons | 9 | | responsible for the
child's welfare, or involving the same | 10 | | alleged offender, the
identifying
information may be | 11 | | maintained in the register
until 5 years after the subsequent | 12 | | case or report is closed.
| 13 | | Notwithstanding any other provision of this Section, | 14 | | identifying
information in indicated reports involving serious | 15 | | physical injury to a child as defined by the
Department in | 16 | | rules, may be retained longer than 5 years after the report
is | 17 | | indicated or after the subsequent case or report is closed, and | 18 | | may not
be removed from the register except as provided by the | 19 | | Department in rules. Identifying information in indicated | 20 | | reports involving sexual penetration of a child, sexual | 21 | | molestation of a child, sexual exploitation of a child, torture | 22 | | of a child, or the death of a child, as defined by the | 23 | | Department in rules, shall be retained for a period of not less | 24 | | than 50 years after the report is indicated or after the | 25 | | subsequent case or report is closed.
| 26 | | For purposes of this Section "child" includes an adult |
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| 1 | | resident as defined in this Act. | 2 | | (Source: P.A. 96-1164, eff. 7-21-10; 96-1446, eff. 8-20-10; | 3 | | 97-333, eff. 8-12-11.)
| 4 | | (325 ILCS 5/7.16) (from Ch. 23, par. 2057.16)
| 5 | | Sec. 7.16.
For any investigation or appeal initiated on or | 6 | | after, or
pending on July 1, 1998, the following time frames | 7 | | shall apply.
Within 60 days after the notification of the | 8 | | completion
of the Child Protective Service Unit investigation, | 9 | | determined by the date
of the notification sent by the | 10 | | Department, a subject of a report may
request the Department to | 11 | | amend the record or
remove the record of the report from the | 12 | | register. Such request shall be
in writing and directed to such | 13 | | person as the Department designates in the
notification. If the | 14 | | Department disregards any
request to do so or does
not act | 15 | | within 10 days, the subject shall have the right to a
hearing | 16 | | within
the Department to determine whether the record of the | 17 | | report should be
amended or removed on the grounds that it is | 18 | | inaccurate or it is
being
maintained in a manner inconsistent | 19 | | with this Act, except that there
shall be no such right to a | 20 | | hearing on the ground of the report's
inaccuracy if there has | 21 | | been a court finding of child abuse or neglect, the
report's | 22 | | accuracy being conclusively presumed on such finding. Such
| 23 | | hearing shall be held within a reasonable time after the | 24 | | subject's request
and at a reasonable place and hour. The | 25 | | appropriate Child Protective
Service Unit shall be given notice |
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| 1 | | of the hearing. If the minor, who is the subject of an action | 2 | | under Article II of the Juvenile Court Act of 1987, is also the | 3 | | victim named in the report sought to be amended or removed from | 4 | | the central register, the minor shall, through the minor's | 5 | | attorney or guardian ad litem appointed under Section 2-17 of | 6 | | the Juvenile Court Act of 1987, have the right to participate | 7 | | and be heard in such hearing as defined under Department rules. | 8 | | In such hearings, the
burden of proving the accuracy and | 9 | | consistency of the record shall be on
the Department and the | 10 | | appropriate Child Protective Service Unit. The
hearing shall be | 11 | | conducted by the Director or his designee, who is hereby
| 12 | | authorized and empowered to order the amendment or removal of
| 13 | | the record to make it accurate and consistent with this Act. | 14 | | The decision
shall be made, in writing, at the close of the | 15 | | hearing, or within 45
days
thereof, and shall state the reasons | 16 | | upon which it is based. Decisions of
the Department under this | 17 | | Section are administrative decisions subject to
judicial | 18 | | review under the Administrative Review Law.
| 19 | | Should the Department grant the request of the subject of | 20 | | the report
pursuant to this Section either on administrative | 21 | | review or after
administrative hearing to amend an indicated | 22 | | report to an unfounded report, the
report shall be released and | 23 | | expunged in accordance
with the standards set forth in Section | 24 | | 7.14 of this Act.
| 25 | | (Source: P.A. 90-15, eff. 6-13-97; 90-608, eff. 6-30-98.)
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| 1 | | (325 ILCS 5/7.21)
| 2 | | Sec. 7.21. Multidisciplinary Review Committee.
| 3 | | (a) The Department may establish multidisciplinary review | 4 | | committees in each
region of the State to assure that mandated | 5 | | reporters have the ability to have
a review conducted on any | 6 | | situation where a child abuse or neglect report made
by them | 7 | | was "unfounded", and they have concerns about the adequacy of | 8 | | the
investigation.
These committees shall draw upon the | 9 | | expertise of the Child Death Review
Teams as necessary and | 10 | | practicable. Each committee will be composed of the
following: | 11 | | a
health care professional, a Department employee, a law | 12 | | enforcement official, a
licensed social
worker, and a | 13 | | representative of the State's attorney's office. In appointing
| 14 | | members of a committee, primary consideration shall be given to | 15 | | a prospective
member's prior experience in dealing with cases | 16 | | of suspected child abuse or
neglect.
| 17 | | (b) Whenever the Department determines that a reported | 18 | | incident of child
abuse or neglect from a mandated reporter is | 19 | | "unfounded", the mandated reporter
may request a review of the | 20 | | investigation within 10 days of the notification of
the final | 21 | | finding. Whenever the Department determines that a reported
| 22 | | incident of child abuse or neglect from a mandated reporter or | 23 | | any other
reporter is "unfounded", the minor's guardian ad | 24 | | litem appointed under the
Juvenile Court Act of 1987 may | 25 | | request a review of the investigation within 10
days of the | 26 | | notification of the final finding if the subject of the report |
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| 1 | | is
also the minor for whom the guardian ad litem has been | 2 | | appointed. The review
of the investigation requested by the | 3 | | guardian ad litem may be conducted by
the Regional Child | 4 | | Protection Manager.
| 5 | | A review under this subsection will be conducted by the
| 6 | | committee , except those requests for review that are made by | 7 | | the guardian
ad litem, which shall be conducted by the Regional | 8 | | Child Protection Manager.
The
Department shall make available | 9 | | to the committee all information in the
Department's possession | 10 | | concerning the case. The committee shall make
recommendations | 11 | | to the Department as to the adequacy of the investigation and
| 12 | | of the accuracy of the final finding determination. These | 13 | | findings shall be
forwarded to the Regional Child Protection | 14 | | Manager.
| 15 | | (c) The Department shall provide complete records of these | 16 | | investigations to
the committee. Records provided to the | 17 | | committee and recommendation reports
generated by the | 18 | | committee shall not be public record.
| 19 | | (c-5) On or before October 1 of each year, the Department | 20 | | shall prepare a
report setting forth (i) the number of | 21 | | investigations
reviewed by each committee during the previous | 22 | | fiscal year and (ii) the number
of those investigations that | 23 | | the committee found to be
inadequate. The report shall also | 24 | | include a summary of the committee's
comments and a summary of | 25 | | the corrective action, if any, that
was taken in response to | 26 | | the committee's recommendations. The report shall be
a public |
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| 1 | | record. The Department shall submit the
report to the General | 2 | | Assembly and shall make the report available to the
public upon | 3 | | request.
| 4 | | (d) The Department shall adopt rules to implement this | 5 | | Section.
| 6 | | (Source: P.A. 90-239, eff. 7-28-97; 91-812, eff. 6-13-00.)
| 7 | | (325 ILCS 5/7.22 new) | 8 | | Sec. 7.22. Reviews of unfounded reports. | 9 | | (a) Whenever the Department determines that a reported | 10 | | incident of child abuse or neglect is "unfounded", the minor's | 11 | | attorney or guardian ad litem appointed under the Juvenile | 12 | | Court Act of 1987 may request a review of the investigation | 13 | | within 10 days of the notification of the final finding and | 14 | | receipt of the report, as provided in Section 7.14 of this Act, | 15 | | if the subject of the report is also the minor for whom the | 16 | | attorney or guardian ad litem has been appointed. | 17 | | (b) Reviews requested under subsection (a) may be requested | 18 | | by sending a request via U.S. Mail, postmarked within 10 days | 19 | | after notice of the final finding, or by faxing a request | 20 | | within 10 days after notice of the final finding. The date of | 21 | | notification of the final finding is the date the attorney or | 22 | | guardian ad litem received a copy of the report from the | 23 | | Department. | 24 | | (c) By January 1, 2014, the Department shall promulgate | 25 | | rules addressing reviews requested under subsection (a). The |
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| 1 | | rules shall provide that a review requested under subsection | 2 | | (a) must occur before the report is classified and a final | 3 | | finding is entered in the central register and that the review | 4 | | must be conducted by a Department employee outside the | 5 | | supervisory chain of the assigned investigator.
| 6 | | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | 7 | | becoming law.
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