Section 316.110  The Department's Role in the Juvenile Court

a)         The Department shall inform the Juvenile Court of the Department's permanency goal planning for the children and families it serves and their progress toward those goals.

b)         When in the juvenile court, the Department shall provide information and recommendations to the court and the parties and shall recommend that the court keep families together in all instances when it is consistent with the children's or youth's best interests, health, safety, and well-being.  In those instances when children must be removed from their parent's care, the Department shall recommend that the court reunite children or youths for whom the Department is legally responsible with their families as soon as returning home is consistent with their best interests, health, safety, and well-being.  Finally, when it is clear to the Department that the child's or youth's health and safety needs cannot be met by the parents and it is in the child's or youth's best interests, the Department will provide that information to the court and recommend that the court establish other permanency goals.

c)         When the DCFS Guardianship Administrator is appointed as the temporary custodian of a child whose siblings are in substitute care and the child and all the siblings are not placed together, the Department shall file with the court and serve on the parties a Visitation and Contact Plan within 10 days, excluding weekends and holidays, after the appointment.

d)         When the Department has legal responsibility for a child, a representative of the Department or its child welfare contributing agency shall attend all hearings required by the court.  At each hearing the Department or its child welfare contributing agency shall provide information relating to the child's placement, best interests, health, safety, and well-being, and make any appropriate recommendations.  Such hearings include:

1)         the temporary custody hearing;

2)         the adjudicatory hearing;

3)         the dispositional hearing;

4)         permanency hearings; and

5)         all other hearings the court may require.

(Source:  Amended at 48 Ill. Reg. 12195, effective August 1, 2024)