SB1775eng 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SB1775 Engrossed LRB099 08363 KTG 31219 b

AN ACT concerning children.

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

Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Safeguard Our Children Act.

Section 5. Definitions. In this Act:

"Caseworker" means an employee of the Department of Children and Family Services who is assigned case management duties concerning a child or person under the care and legal custody of the Department.

"Child or person" means any child or person, regardless of age, who is under the care and legal custody of the Department of Children and Family Services.

"Department" means the Department of Children and Family Services.

"Plan of Care" means a written or electronic document that details the information required under Section 15 of this Act.

Section 10. Duty to report. Any child or person in the care of the Department who is placed in a residential facility under contract with the Department pursuant to the Children and Family Services Act shall be reported as missing to the local law enforcement agency within whose jurisdiction the facility is located, if:

(1) there is no contact between an employee of the residential facility and the child or person within a period of 12 hours; and

(2) the child or person is absent from the residential facility without prior approval.

The operator of the residential facility shall inform the child's or person's caseworker that the child or person has been reported as missing to the appropriate local law enforcement agency. The operator of the residential facility shall also report the child or person as missing to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and shall make a subsequent telephone notification to the sheriff of the county in which the residential facility is located.

The operator of the residential facility making the missing persons report to the local law enforcement agency within whose jurisdiction the facility is located shall report that the missing person is a ward of the Department and shall inform the law enforcement agency taking the report to include the following statement within the missing persons report, in the field of the Law Enforcement Agencies Data System (LEADS) known as "Miscellaneous":

"This individual is a ward of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and, regardless of age, shall be released only to the custody of DCFS. Contact the 24-hour hotline: [phone]."

Section 15. Plan of Care. The operator of a residential facility under contract with the Department shall record a Plan of Care for any child or person who resides at the facility and who plans to leave the facility temporarily for more than 24 hours. A child's or person's Plan of Care must contain the following information:

(1) The location of the place that the child or person intends to visit after leaving the residential facility.

(2) The contact information of the individual the child or person intends to stay with after leaving the residential facility.

(3) The duration of the visit.

(4) The expected time or date the child or person intends to return to the residential facility.

Section 20. The Intergovernmental Missing Child Recovery Act of 1984 is amended by adding Section 3.6 as follows:

(325 ILCS 40/3.6 new)

Sec. 3.6. Department of Children and Family Services; missing persons. The Department shall develop and conduct a training advisory for LEADS reporting of missing persons when the missing individual, regardless of age, is under the care and legal custody of the Department of Children and Family Services.