Public Act 93-0539
SB1650 Enrolled LRB093 03202 RLC 03219 b
AN ACT concerning juveniles.
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, 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, a foster parent may file a motion to intervene in the
proceeding for the sole purpose of requesting that the minor
be 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 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 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 one year on or after July 3, 1994 and if the
minor's placement is being terminated from that foster
parent's home, that foster parent shall have standing and
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 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
victim 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. 91-357, eff. 7-29-99; 92-559, eff. 1-1-03.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.