HB0186eng 97TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB0186 Engrossed LRB097 05701 RLC 45764 b

AN ACT concerning courts.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Juvenile Court Act of 1987 is amended by changing Section 1-5 as follows:

(705 ILCS 405/1-5) (from Ch. 37, par. 801-5)

Sec. 1-5. Rights of parties to proceedings.

(1) Except as provided in this Section and paragraph (2) of Sections 2-22, 3-23, 4-20, 5-610 or 5-705, the minor who is the subject of the proceeding and his parents, guardian, legal custodian or responsible relative who are parties respondent have the right to be present, to be heard, to present evidence material to the proceedings, to cross-examine witnesses, to examine pertinent court files and records and also, although proceedings under this Act are not intended to be adversary in character, the right to be represented by counsel. At the request of any party financially unable to employ counsel, with the exception of a foster parent permitted to intervene under this Section, the court shall appoint the Public Defender or such other counsel as the case may require. Counsel appointed for the minor and any indigent party shall appear at all stages of the trial court proceeding, and such appointment shall continue through the permanency hearings and termination of parental rights proceedings subject to withdrawal or substitution pursuant to Supreme Court Rules or the Code of Civil Procedure. Following the dispositional hearing, the court may require appointed counsel, other than counsel for the minor or counsel for the guardian ad litem, to withdraw his or her appearance upon failure of the party for whom counsel was appointed under this Section to attend any subsequent proceedings.

No hearing on any petition or motion filed under this Act may be commenced unless the minor who is the subject of the proceeding is represented by counsel. Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, if a guardian ad litem has been appointed for the minor under Section 2-17 of this Act and the guardian ad litem is a licensed attorney at law of this State, or in the event that a court appointed special advocate has been appointed as guardian ad litem and counsel has been appointed to represent the court appointed special advocate, the court may not require the appointment of counsel to represent the minor unless the court finds that the minor's interests are in conflict with what the guardian ad litem determines to be in the best interest of the minor. Each adult respondent shall be furnished a written "Notice of Rights" at or before the first hearing at which he or she appears.

(1.5) The Department shall maintain a system of response to inquiry made by parents or putative parents as to whether their child is under the custody or guardianship of the Department; and if so, the Department shall direct the parents or putative parents to the appropriate court of jurisdiction, including where inquiry may be made of the clerk of the court regarding the case number and the next scheduled court date of the minor's case. Effective notice and the means of accessing information shall be given to the public on a continuing basis by the Department.

(2) (a) Though not appointed guardian or legal custodian or otherwise made a party to the proceeding, any current or previously appointed foster parent or relative caregiver, or representative of an agency or association interested in the minor has the right to be heard by the court, including the right to a full evidentiary hearing, but does not thereby become a party to the proceeding.

In addition to the foregoing right to be heard by the court, any current foster parent or relative caregiver of a minor and the agency designated by the court or the Department of Children and Family Services as custodian of the minor who is alleged to be or has been adjudicated an abused or neglected minor under Section 2-3 or a dependent minor under Section 2-4 of this Act has the right to and shall be given adequate notice at all stages of any hearing or proceeding under this Act.

Any foster parent or relative caregiver who is denied his or her right to be heard under this Section may bring a mandamus action under Article XIV of the Code of Civil Procedure against the court or any public agency to enforce that right. The mandamus action may be brought immediately upon the denial of those rights but in no event later than 30 days after the foster parent has been denied the right to be heard.

(b) If after an adjudication that a minor is abused or neglected as provided under Section 2-21 of this Act and a motion has been made to restore the minor to any parent, guardian, or legal custodian found by the court to have caused the neglect or to have inflicted the abuse on the minor or a notice of a proposed change of placement of the minor is given, a foster parent may file a motion to intervene in the proceeding for the sole purpose of requesting that the placement of the minor be continued placed with the foster parent, provided that the foster parent (i) is the current foster parent of the minor or (ii) has previously been a foster parent for the minor for 6 months one year or more, has a foster care license or is eligible for a license, and is not the subject of any findings of abuse or neglect of any child. The juvenile court may only enter orders placing a minor with a specific foster parent under this subsection (2)(b) and nothing in this Section shall be construed to confer any jurisdiction or authority on the juvenile court to issue any other orders requiring the appointed guardian or custodian of a minor to place the minor in a designated foster home or facility. This Section is not intended to encompass any matters that are within the scope or determinable under the administrative and appeal process established by rules of the Department of Children and Family Services under Section 5(o) of the Children and Family Services Act. Nothing in this Section shall relieve the court of its responsibility, under Section 2-14(a) of this Act to act in a just and speedy manner to reunify families where it is the best interests of the minor and the child can be cared for at home without endangering the child's health or safety and, if reunification is not in the best interests of the minor, to find another permanent home for the minor. Nothing in this Section, or in any order issued by the court with respect to the placement of a minor with a foster parent, shall impair the ability of the Department of Children and Family Services, or anyone else authorized under Section 5 of the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act, to remove a minor from the home of a foster parent if the Department of Children and Family Services or the person removing the minor has a documented reason to believe that the circumstances or conditions of the minor are such that continuing in the residence or care of the foster parent will jeopardize the child's health and safety or present an imminent risk of harm to that minor's life.

(c) If a foster parent has had the minor who is the subject of the proceeding under Article II in his or her home for more than 6 months one year on or after July 3, 1994 and if the minor's placement is being or has been terminated from that foster parent's home, that foster parent shall have standing and full intervenor status except in those circumstances where the Department of Children and Family Services or anyone else authorized under Section 5 of the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act has removed the minor from the foster parent because of a documented reasonable belief that the circumstances or conditions of the minor are such that continuing in the residence or care of the foster parent will jeopardize the child's health or safety or presents an imminent risk of harm to the minor's life.

(d) The court may grant standing to any foster parent if the court finds that it is in the best interest of the child for the foster parent to have standing and intervenor status.

(3) Parties respondent are entitled to notice in compliance with Sections 2-15 and 2-16, 3-17 and 3-18, 4-14 and 4-15 or 5-525 and 5-530, as appropriate. At the first appearance before the court by the minor, his parents, guardian, custodian or responsible relative, the court shall explain the nature of the proceedings and inform the parties of their rights under the first 2 paragraphs of this Section.

If the child is alleged to be abused, neglected or dependent, the court shall admonish the parents that if the court declares the child to be a ward of the court and awards custody or guardianship to the Department of Children and Family Services, the parents must cooperate with the Department of Children and Family Services, comply with the terms of the service plans, and correct the conditions that require the child to be in care, or risk termination of their parental rights.

Upon an adjudication of wardship of the court under Sections 2-22, 3-23, 4-20 or 5-705, the court shall inform the parties of their right to appeal therefrom as well as from any other final judgment of the court.

When the court finds that a child is an abused, neglected, or dependent minor under Section 2-21, the court shall admonish the parents that the parents must cooperate with the Department of Children and Family Services, comply with the terms of the service plans, and correct the conditions that require the child to be in care, or risk termination of their parental rights.

When the court declares a child to be a ward of the court and awards guardianship to the Department of Children and Family Services under Section 2-22, the court shall admonish the parents, guardian, custodian, or responsible relative that the parents must cooperate with the Department of Children and Family Services, comply with the terms of the service plans, and correct the conditions that require the child to be in care, or risk termination of their parental rights.

(4) No sanction may be applied against the minor who is the subject of the proceedings by reason of his refusal or failure to testify in the course of any hearing held prior to final adjudication under Section 2-22, 3-23, 4-20 or 5-705.

(5) In the discretion of the court, the minor may be excluded from any part or parts of a dispositional hearing and, with the consent of the parent or parents, guardian, counsel or a guardian ad litem, from any part or parts of an adjudicatory hearing.

(6) The general public except for the news media and the crime victim, as defined in Section 3 of the Rights of Crime Victims and Witnesses Act, shall be excluded from any hearing and, except for the persons specified in this Section only persons, including representatives of agencies and associations, who in the opinion of the court have a direct interest in the case or in the work of the court shall be admitted to the hearing. However, the court may, for the minor's safety and protection and for good cause shown, prohibit any person or agency present in court from further disclosing the minor's identity. Nothing in this subsection (6) prevents the court from allowing other juveniles to be present or to participate in a court session being held under the Juvenile Drug Court Treatment Act.

(7) A party shall not be entitled to exercise the right to a substitution of a judge without cause under subdivision (a)(2) of Section 2-1001 of the Code of Civil Procedure in a proceeding under this Act if the judge is currently assigned to a proceeding involving the alleged abuse, neglect, or dependency of the minor's sibling or half sibling and that judge has made a substantive ruling in the proceeding involving the minor's sibling or half sibling.

(Source: P.A. 93-539, eff. 8-18-03; 94-271, eff. 1-1-06.)

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