HB2833ham001 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Rep. Michelle Mussman

Filed: 3/25/2019

10100HB2833ham001 LRB101 09809 KTG 58333 a

AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 2833

AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 2833 by replacing everything after the enacting clause with the following:

"Section 5. The Children and Family Services Act is amended by adding Section 21.2a as follows:

(20 ILCS 505/21.2a new)

Sec. 21.2a. Child Protection Training Academy.

(a) Findings. The General Assembly finds and declares all of the following:

(1) The Department of Children and Family Services developed the Child Protection Training Academy in 2015 at the University of Illinois at Springfield.

(2) The Child Protection Training Academy represents an innovative approach to training frontline child protection investigators using experiential learning through simulations. Experiential learning provides a safe learning environment, bridges the gap between policy and practice, increases worker engagement, and accelerates learning.

(3) Research indicates that traditional classroom training results in less than a 15% transfer of knowledge once in the field.

(4) To date, 625 investigators have completed the simulation training at the Child Protection Training Academy. A June 2018 evaluation of simulation training at the Academy and traditional classroom training found that "investigators with simulation training gave significantly higher ratings on 8 of the 9 items assessing how well [they] thought their initial training prepared them for their work". Also, investigators not trained by the Academy were 4 times more likely than Academy-trained investigators to say they were actively looking for a position in another unit within the Department of Children and Family Services. This research found that at the 18-month mark persons who were not trained under the simulation model were twice as likely to leave their positions than the group that had been trained at the Child Protection Training Academy.

(5) Over the last 8 years, there have been 10 acting or confirmed directors of the Department of Children and Family Services. Rapidly shifting leadership results in changing initiatives and priorities. Over the last 3 years of operation, the Child Protection Training Academy has institutionalized training for frontline child protection investigators with plans to expand simulation training to the other professionals at the Department of Children and Family Services as well as to community providers. To ensure fidelity to the simulation training model, the purpose of this Section is to create a foundation for training child welfare professionals throughout the Department of Children and Family Services regardless of any administrative changes in the future. This is particularly important as the Child Protection Training Academy expands operations to other sites, subject to need and appropriation.

(b) Child Protection Training Academy. As used in this Section, "child protection training" includes, but is not limited to, training for all child protective investigators and supervisors, child welfare specialists and supervisors employed by the Department of Children and Family Services or its contractors, as well as other State and county staff, judges, court personnel, service providers, mental health professionals, school personnel, law enforcement, foster parents, mandated reporters, and other appropriate entities that are involved in the child welfare service system and work directly with maltreated children.

(c) Subject to appropriations, the Department of Children and Family Services, in collaboration with the University of Illinois at Springfield, shall continue operating the Child Protection Training Academy. The training efforts of the Child Protection Training Academy shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

(1) The continued development of foundation and simulation training for all child protection investigators, including those newly hired and seasoned investigators.

(2) The continued development and implementation of training for all supervisors.

(3) The development of simulation training for intake and permanency workers both in the Department and at private agencies.

(4) The development of training curricula on recognizing and responding to cases of child abuse or neglect for mandated reporters.

(5) The development of a multidisciplinary training team that uses the Academy's simulation training model.

(6) Cultural competency training that provides tools and other supports to ensure that a child welfare provider's response to and engagement with families and children of color are: (i) conducted or provided in a manner that is responsive to the beliefs, interpersonal styles, attitudes, language, and behaviors of the individuals who are receiving services; and (ii) conducted or provided in a manner that has the greatest likelihood of ensuring maximum success of or participation in the child welfare program or services being provided.

(7) Laboratory training facilities that may include, but not be limited to, mock houses, mock courtrooms, and mock forensic interview rooms that allow for simulated, interactive, and intensive training.

(8) Minimum standards of competence that a person shall be required to demonstrate prior to receiving certification from the Department.

(d) By July 1, 2020, the Department of Children and Family Services shall adopt rules for the administration of the Child Protection Training Academy that not only establish statewide competence, assessment, and training standards for persons providing child welfare services, but that also ensure that persons who provide child welfare services have the knowledge, skills, professionalism, and abilities to make decisions that keep children safe and secure. The Department shall continue to arrange for an independent evaluation of the Child Protection Training Academy for at least the first 5 years of operation to determine whether it is meeting the goals of this Section.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.".