Full Text of HB1397 94th General Assembly
HB1397eng 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| AN ACT concerning children.
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| Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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| represented in the General Assembly:
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| Section 5. The Children and Family Services Act is amended | 5 |
| by adding Section 6d as follows:
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| (20 ILCS 505/6d new)
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| Sec. 6d. Alternate care plans for children and youth. | 8 |
| (a) The General Assembly finds that: | 9 |
| (1) Children entering the child welfare system | 10 |
| experience trauma related not only to abuse and neglect but | 11 |
| also to out of home placement.
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| (2) Untreated, the effects of trauma escalate over | 13 |
| time.
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| (3) Placement instability causes service delays and | 15 |
| interruptions that jeopardize children's physical and | 16 |
| emotional well-being.
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| (4) A significant portion of children entering | 18 |
| residential programs designed to treat complex clinical or | 19 |
| development needs do so only after multiple failed foster | 20 |
| care placements and without any intensive service | 21 |
| intervention.
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| (5) Relevant and timely service intervention has a | 23 |
| direct impact on the quality of life for children in care, | 24 |
| the length of time the children are in care and the | 25 |
| long-term outcomes when the children leave care.
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| (b) To ensure that children and youth have efficient and | 27 |
| effective access to interventions, programs, and services when | 28 |
| needs are identified, the Department shall implement | 29 |
| procedures for the establishment of regionally based, | 30 |
| multi-disciplinary teams that shall be responsible for | 31 |
| developing and ensuring the implementation of plans for youth | 32 |
| in care. The Department shall promulgate rules and procedures |
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| for the appointment of the teams and for use of uniform | 2 |
| assessment tools.
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| (c) The teams shall:
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| (1) Use a team-decision making process that | 5 |
| collaboratively determines the optimal plan for the youth.
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| (2) Focus on the current and immediate clinical and | 7 |
| social needs of the youth.
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| (3) Administer a uniform assessment tool, as provided | 9 |
| for in Department rules, to assist in determining the | 10 |
| child's current level of functioning and well-being.
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| (4) Be empowered to identify youth's service and | 12 |
| placement needs without restriction to program type.
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| (5) Identify the best plan to meet the child's need | 14 |
| based on the individual strengths, needs, and | 15 |
| circumstances of the child's case.
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| (d) The Department shall establish criteria for | 17 |
| identifying cases and shall define events that require a | 18 |
| meeting of participants in addition to the appointed team | 19 |
| members. The criteria or events shall include, at a minimum, | 20 |
| all children or youths who have experienced 2 unplanned | 21 |
| placement disruptions within a period of 18 months.
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| (e) Participants in a meeting required by the Department | 23 |
| shall include:
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| (1) individuals with relevant current information | 25 |
| about the child or youth;
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| (2) individuals with a professional capacity that is | 27 |
| critical to informed, sound decision-making of the team | 28 |
| about the individual youth;
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| (3) current foster parents or other caregiver, the | 30 |
| caseworker, and supervisor;
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| (4) depending on the child's age and presenting issues, | 32 |
| the youth; and
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| (5) if appropriate, a psychologist, early childhood | 34 |
| specialist, education advisor, nurse, therapist, any | 35 |
| existing SOC provider of services, the child's guardian ad | 36 |
| litem, probation personnel, and any relevant Department of |
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| Children and Family Services specialist.
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| (f) The biological families of the child may be included at | 3 |
| the meeting, where appropriate.
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| (g) The Department may assign staff of the Department to | 5 |
| coordinate, prepare, and facilitate the team meetings.
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| (h) The Department shall develop quality assurance | 7 |
| mechanisms to track the appropriateness of service | 8 |
| recommendations and implementation performance. The quality | 9 |
| assurance mechanisms shall include measures to collect data as | 10 |
| to timeliness and effectiveness of the team's decision, as well | 11 |
| as service gaps that are identified as the byproduct of these | 12 |
| meetings.
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| (i) By January 15th of each year, the Department shall | 14 |
| report to the General Assembly identified service gaps and | 15 |
| recommendations for addressing the identified service needs.
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