Full Text of HR0260 102nd General Assembly
HR0260 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (25 U.S.C. § | 3 | | 1901) "recognizes the special
relationship between the United | 4 | | States and the Indian tribes and their members and the Federal
| 5 | | responsibility to Indian people"; the intent of the Act is to | 6 | | "protect the best interest of Indian
children and to promote | 7 | | stability and security of Indian tribes and families by | 8 | | establishing minimum
Federal standards for the removal of | 9 | | Indian children from their families and the placement of such
| 10 | | children in foster or adoptive homes which will reflect the | 11 | | unique values of Indian culture, and by
providing for | 12 | | assistance to Indian tribes in the operation of child and | 13 | | family service programs". (25 U.S.C.
§ 1902); and
| 14 | | WHEREAS, The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) promulgated a | 15 | | regulation "to govern the funding for,
and the administration | 16 | | of Indian child and family service programs as authorized by | 17 | | the Indian Child
Welfare Act of 1978" (25 C.F.R. § 23.1)to | 18 | | ensure consistency, efficacy, and to avoid any delay in child
| 19 | | welfare proceedings involving Native American families; and
| 20 | | WHEREAS, Together the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and | 21 | | the BIA ICWA Rule promote the
identity of Native American | 22 | | children and their connection with their tribe and afford | 23 | | extra protections to
Native American children involved in the |
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| 1 | | child welfare system by requiring the child welfare system to
| 2 | | make active efforts, follow placement preference with the | 3 | | tribe, and other additional heightened legal
standards | 4 | | required throughout the life of the case; and | 5 | | WHEREAS, "Active efforts" means affirmative, active, | 6 | | thorough, and timely efforts intended
primarily to maintain or | 7 | | reunite an Indian child with his or her family, which, to the | 8 | | maximum extent
possible, should be provided in a manner | 9 | | consistent with the prevailing social and cultural conditions
| 10 | | and way of life of the Indian child's Tribe and should be | 11 | | conducted in partnership with the Indian child
and the Indian | 12 | | child's parents, extended family members, Indian custodians, | 13 | | and Tribe (25 CFR § 23.2.); and | 14 | | WHEREAS, The BIA ICWA Rule mandates that when a Native | 15 | | American child is placed in foster
care, placement preference | 16 | | must be given in descending order to placement of the child | 17 | | with: (1) A
member of the Indian child's extended family, (2) | 18 | | Other members of the Indian child's Tribe, or (3)
Other Indian | 19 | | families (25 CFR § 23.130); and | 20 | | WHEREAS, The Department of Children and Family Services | 21 | | (DCFS) Procedure 307, Indian Child
Welfare Services, "outlines | 22 | | how the Department shall, in conjunction with Indian | 23 | | communities,
organizations and agencies, provide a method of |
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| 1 | | early identification of Indian children and their families
in | 2 | | order to provide child welfare services that assure all the | 3 | | additional protections afforded by the
Indian Child Welfare | 4 | | Act"; and | 5 | | WHEREAS, DCFS Procedure 307 created an "Indian Child | 6 | | Welfare Specialist (ICWA Specialist)"
that defines the role as | 7 | | "an enrolled member of a Native American Indian Tribe" who is | 8 | | "familiar with the
Native American community, participates in | 9 | | community outreach, and is a primary contact person for an
| 10 | | ICWA case who assists and supports permanency staff regarding | 11 | | ICWA compliance in child custody
proceedings"; and | 12 | | WHEREAS, Until 2018, DCFS employed two Indian Child | 13 | | Welfare Specialists to manage the
various ICWA cases | 14 | | identified throughout the State of Illinois, both of whom were | 15 | | enrolled members of
Native American Indian Tribes; and | 16 | | WHEREAS, Since 2018, the DCFS Indian Child Welfare | 17 | | Specialist positions have been vacant, and
when DCFS recently | 18 | | posted positions to hire two ICWA Specialists, the requirement | 19 | | that the Specialists
be a member of a Native America Indian | 20 | | Tribe was changed to a mere preference; and | 21 | | WHEREAS, The Indian Child Welfare Specialists are | 22 | | responsible for: (1) developing procedural
guidelines to |
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| 1 | | determine DCFS compliance with ICWA, (2) determining | 2 | | children's eligibility under ICWA,
(3) facilitating | 3 | | communication throughout the life of the case between | 4 | | representatives from the child's
tribe, DCFS, and the courts, | 5 | | (4) identifying community support, organizations, programs, | 6 | | and activities to
maintain the American Indian child's | 7 | | culture, language, and traditions, which are required under | 8 | | ICWA, (5)
maintaining and developing connections with the | 9 | | Native America community, (6) recruiting and supporting
Native | 10 | | American foster homes, (7) providing ICWA trainings, and (8) | 11 | | facilitation of the Illinois Child Welfare
Advisory Council; | 12 | | and
| 13 | | WHEREAS, These responsibilities have been ignored since | 14 | | 2018, and the ICWA youth in care and
their families have not | 15 | | had the advocacy, services, or support needed to protect their | 16 | | interests and
rights and, as a result, have suffered; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, There has been almost no public information | 18 | | offered about DCFS compliance with
the ICWA and BIA ICWA Rule | 19 | | or implementation of Procedure 307 or whether there is any | 20 | | oversight
process to ensure accountability and compliance so | 21 | | that the needs of Native American youth in care are
being | 22 | | addressed by DCFS; and
| 23 | | WHEREAS, The General Assembly requires reliable |
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| 1 | | information to guide funding decisions,
perform its oversight, | 2 | | and make sound legislative and administrative recommendations; | 3 | | therefore, be it
| 4 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 5 | | HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 6 | | the Auditor General is directed to conduct a performance audit | 7 | | of the Department of Children and Family Services compliance | 8 | | with its obligations to protect the Indian Children in care | 9 | | and their families; and be it further | 10 | | RESOLVED, That the audit shall include, but not be limited | 11 | | to, examining the operations and
management of the Department | 12 | | of Children and Family Services and its contractors to perform | 13 | | its duties
in accordance with ICWA, the BIA Regulations, and | 14 | | DCFS procedure 307 "Indian Child Welfare Services"
as follows: | 15 | | (1) The Department of Children and Family Services' | 16 | | implementation of and adherence
to The Indian Child | 17 | | Welfare Act of 1978; | 18 | | (2) The Department of Children and Family Services' | 19 | | implementation of and adherence
to the Bureau of Indian | 20 | | Affairs Rule; | 21 | | (3) The Department of Children and Family Services' | 22 | | implementation of and adherence
to Procedure 307; | 23 | | (4) The Department of Children and Family Services' | 24 | | contractors' implementation of
adherence to Procedure 307; |
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| 1 | | (5) How and with what frequency the Department of | 2 | | Children and Family Services and
its contractors' | 3 | | employees are trained on the Indian Child Welfare Act, the | 4 | | Bureau
of Indian Affairs regulations, and the requirements | 5 | | of Procedure 307, and whether
the training is sufficient | 6 | | to demonstrate appropriate application to field work; | 7 | | (6) How employee and contract oversight ensure | 8 | | accountability and corrective actions; | 9 | | (7) The method by which the Department of Children and | 10 | | Family Services assesses,
monitors, and acts to make | 11 | | certain its contracted providers have adopted Procedure
| 12 | | 307 policies; | 13 | | (8) The methods by which information about Indian | 14 | | Child eligibility is sought, the
format and locations in | 15 | | which this information is maintained, and the practices
| 16 | | utilized for privacy protections; | 17 | | (9) Actions taken by the Department of Children and | 18 | | Family Services and its contractors
in licensing to | 19 | | recruit and support Native American foster homes; | 20 | | (10) The process by which the Department of Children | 21 | | and Family Services ensures that
Indian children or youth | 22 | | are placed in homes that comply with placement
preference | 23 | | as outlined in ICWA and the BIA regulations; | 24 | | (11) The current gap in placement and service capacity | 25 | | to meet the needs and efforts
made to recruit Native | 26 | | American foster homes; and |
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| 1 | | (12) Amounts appropriated or allocated from any | 2 | | source, including grants, for the
purposes of compliance | 3 | | with ICWA, the BIA Regulations and DCFS Procedures 307,
| 4 | | the amounts actually spent, and the purpose of each | 5 | | expenditure during fiscal years
2018 through 2021; and be | 6 | | it further | 7 | | RESOLVED, That the audit include, but not be limited to, | 8 | | the following determinations as they
pertain to children (up | 9 | | to the age of 21) in the care of the Department of Children and | 10 | | Family Services in
calendar years 2019 and 2020: | 11 | | (1) The number of youth in care identified as an | 12 | | Indian Child or eligible for membership
in an Indian | 13 | | tribe; | 14 | | (2) For each youth in subsection (1), the length of | 15 | | stay in out-of-home care, case
permanency goals, frequency | 16 | | of sibling visitation, as applicable; | 17 | | (3) For each youth in subsection (1), the number, | 18 | | type, and duration of each placement
designated relative | 19 | | foster home, tribal foster home, group home, residential
| 20 | | treatment center, detention or correctional setting, | 21 | | psychiatric hospital, transitional
living program, or | 22 | | shelter home, whether and how the youth in care and the | 23 | | tribe
participate in placement planning and determination, | 24 | | whether and how tribal
placement preference was considered | 25 | | for placement selection, and reasons for
placement |
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| 1 | | disruptions, if applicable; | 2 | | (4) For each youth in subsection (1), the number of | 3 | | each incident categorized as
running away, contact with | 4 | | police or the justice system, crisis hospitalization,
| 5 | | hospitalization beyond medical necessity, reported victim | 6 | | of assault, school-related
disciplinary infractions, | 7 | | school-related disciplinary infractions, school-related
| 8 | | bullying or harassment, removal from a placement at the | 9 | | request of a provider or
caregiver, removal from a | 10 | | placement at the request of the youth, subject of abuse
or | 11 | | neglect allegations while in out-of-home care, and | 12 | | detained in a correctional setting
beyond release due to | 13 | | lack of identified placement; | 14 | | (5) For each youth in subsection (1), were | 15 | | opportunities provided to engage in
normalcy activities | 16 | | (e.g., participation in activities typical of their peer | 17 | | and age group) consistent with the child's tribal culture, | 18 | | language, and traditions; | 19 | | (6) Whether the data findings in (2), (3), (4), and | 20 | | (5) differ from that of the general
population of youth in | 21 | | care or whether the data differs based on the geographic
| 22 | | placement of the youth in care; and | 23 | | (7) The number of providers designated as clinically | 24 | | appropriate to provide housing or
services to youth | 25 | | identified as members or eligible for membership in a | 26 | | Native
American tribe and the number of youth utilizing |
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| 1 | | those providers for services or
supports; and be it | 2 | | further | 3 | | RESOLVED, That the Department of Children and Family | 4 | | Services shall cooperate fully and
promptly with the Auditor | 5 | | General's Office in conducting this audit; and be it further
| 6 | | RESOLVED, That the Auditor General commence this audit as | 7 | | soon as possible to distribute the
report upon completion in | 8 | | accordance with Section 3-14 of the Illinois State Auditing | 9 | | Act.
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