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Public Act 91-0158
SB774 Enrolled LRB9105932DHmg
AN ACT to amend the Children's Advocacy Center Act by
changing Section 4.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Children's Advocacy Center Act is amended
by changing Section 4 as follows:
(55 ILCS 80/4) (from Ch. 23, par. 1804)
Sec. 4. Children's Advocacy Center.
(a) Subject to the referendum provisions of this Act, a
Children's Advocacy Center ("Center") may be established to
coordinate the activities of the various agencies involved in
the investigation, prosecution and treatment referral of
child sexual abuse. The Advisory Board shall serve as the
governing board for the Center and, by the majority vote of
its members, shall submit a proposed annual budget for the
operation of the Center to the county board. The county board
shall appropriate funds and levy a tax sufficient to operate
the Center. Each county shall establish a Children's Advocacy
Center Fund and shall deposit the net proceeds of the tax
authorized by Section 6 of this Act in that Fund, which shall
be kept separate from all other county funds and shall only
be used for the purposes of this Act.
(b) The Advisory Board shall pay from the Children's
Advocacy Center Fund the salaries of all employees of the
Center, all of whom shall be county employees, and the
expenses of acquiring a physical plant for the Center by
construction or lease and maintaining the Center, including
the expenses of administering the coordination of the
investigation, prosecution and treatment referral of child
sexual abuse under the provisions of the protocol adopted
pursuant to this Act.
(c) Every Center shall include at least the following
components:
(1) An interdisciplinary, coordinated systems
approach to the investigation of child sexual abuse which
shall include, at a minimum;
(i) an interagency notification procedure;
(ii) a dispute resolution process between the
involved agencies when a conflict arises on how to
proceed with the investigation of a case;
(iii) a policy on interagency decision-making;
and
(iv) a description of the role each agency has
in the investigation of the case;
(2) A safe, separate space with assigned personnel
designated for the investigation and coordination of
child sexual abuse cases;
(3) An interdisciplinary case review process for
purposes of decision-making, problem solving, systems
coordination, and information sharing;
(4) A comprehensive tracking system to receive and
coordinate information concerning child sexual abuse
cases from each participating agency;
(5) Interdisciplinary specialized training for all
professionals involved with the victims and families of
child sexual abuse cases; and
(6) A process for evaluating the effectiveness of
the Center and its operations.
(d) In the event that a Center has been established as
provided in this Section, the Advisory Board of that Center
may, by a majority of the members, authorize the Center to
coordinate the activities of the various agencies involved in
the investigation, prosecution, and treatment referral of
serious child physical abuse cases. The Advisory Board shall
provide for the financial support of these activities in a
manner similar to that set out in subsections (a) and (b) of
this Section and shall be allowed to submit a budget that
includes support for physical abuse and neglect activities to
the County Board, which shall appropriate funds that may be
available under Section 5 of this Act.
(e) The Illinois Child Advocacy Commission may also
provide technical assistance and guidance to the Advisory
Boards and shall make a single annual grant for the purpose
of providing technical support and assistance for advocacy
center development in Illinois whenever an appropriation is
made by the General Assembly specifically for that purpose.
The grant may be made only to an Illinois not-for-profit
corporation that qualifies for tax treatment under Section
501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and that has a voting
membership consisting of children's advocacy centers. The
grant may be spent on staff, office space, equipment, and
other expenses necessary for the development of resource
materials and other forms of technical support and
assistance. The grantee shall report to the Commission on
the specific uses of grant funds by no later than October 1
of each year and shall retain supporting documentation for a
period of at least 5 years after the corresponding report is
filed.
(Source: P.A. 89-543, eff. 1-1-97.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.
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