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91_SB0774
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1 AN ACT to amend the Children's Advocacy Center Act by
2 changing Section 4.
3 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
4 represented in the General Assembly:
5 Section 5. The Children's Advocacy Center Act is amended
6 by changing Section 4 as follows:
7 (55 ILCS 80/4) (from Ch. 23, par. 1804)
8 Sec. 4. Children's Advocacy Center.
9 (a) Subject to the referendum provisions of this Act, a
10 Children's Advocacy Center ("Center") may be established to
11 coordinate the activities of the various agencies involved in
12 the investigation, prosecution and treatment referral of
13 child sexual abuse. The Advisory Board shall serve as the
14 governing board for the Center and, by the majority vote of
15 its members, shall submit a proposed annual budget for the
16 operation of the Center to the county board. The county board
17 shall appropriate funds and levy a tax sufficient to operate
18 the Center. Each county shall establish a Children's Advocacy
19 Center Fund and shall deposit the net proceeds of the tax
20 authorized by Section 6 of this Act in that Fund, which shall
21 be kept separate from all other county funds and shall only
22 be used for the purposes of this Act.
23 (b) The Advisory Board shall pay from the Children's
24 Advocacy Center Fund the salaries of all employees of the
25 Center, all of whom shall be county employees, and the
26 expenses of acquiring a physical plant for the Center by
27 construction or lease and maintaining the Center, including
28 the expenses of administering the coordination of the
29 investigation, prosecution and treatment referral of child
30 sexual abuse under the provisions of the protocol adopted
31 pursuant to this Act.
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1 (c) Every Center shall include at least the following
2 components:
3 (1) An interdisciplinary, coordinated systems
4 approach to the investigation of child sexual abuse which
5 shall include, at a minimum;
6 (i) an interagency notification procedure;
7 (ii) a dispute resolution process between the
8 involved agencies when a conflict arises on how to
9 proceed with the investigation of a case;
10 (iii) a policy on interagency decision-making;
11 and
12 (iv) a description of the role each agency has
13 in the investigation of the case;
14 (2) A safe, separate space with assigned personnel
15 designated for the investigation and coordination of
16 child sexual abuse cases;
17 (3) An interdisciplinary case review process for
18 purposes of decision-making, problem solving, systems
19 coordination, and information sharing;
20 (4) A comprehensive tracking system to receive and
21 coordinate information concerning child sexual abuse
22 cases from each participating agency;
23 (5) Interdisciplinary specialized training for all
24 professionals involved with the victims and families of
25 child sexual abuse cases; and
26 (6) A process for evaluating the effectiveness of
27 the Center and its operations.
28 (d) In the event that a Center has been established as
29 provided in this Section, the Advisory Board of that Center
30 may, by a majority of the members, authorize the Center to
31 coordinate the activities of the various agencies involved in
32 the investigation, prosecution, and treatment referral of
33 serious child physical abuse cases. The Advisory Board shall
34 provide for the financial support of these activities in a
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1 manner similar to that set out in subsections (a) and (b) of
2 this Section and shall be allowed to submit a budget that
3 includes support for physical abuse and neglect activities to
4 the County Board, which shall appropriate funds that may be
5 available under Section 5 of this Act.
6 (e) The Illinois Child Advocacy Commission may also
7 provide technical assistance and guidance to the Advisory
8 Boards and shall make a single annual grant for the purpose
9 of providing technical support and assistance for advocacy
10 center development in Illinois whenever an appropriation is
11 made by the General Assembly specifically for that purpose.
12 The grant may be made only to an Illinois not-for-profit
13 corporation that qualifies for tax treatment under Section
14 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and that has a voting
15 membership consisting of children's advocacy centers. The
16 grant may be spent on staff, office space, equipment, and
17 other expenses necessary for the development of resource
18 materials and other forms of technical support and
19 assistance. The grantee shall report to the Commission on
20 the specific uses of grant funds by no later than October 1
21 of each year and shall retain supporting documentation for a
22 period of at least 5 years after the corresponding report is
23 filed.
24 (Source: P.A. 89-543, eff. 1-1-97.)
25 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
26 becoming law.