HB4391ham001 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

Rep. Robert W. Churchill

Filed: 2/27/2006

09400HB4391ham001 LRB094 13392 RLC 56596 a

AMENDMENT TO HOUSE BILL 4391

AMENDMENT NO. ______. Amend House Bill 4391 on page 1, by inserting immediately below line 3, the following:

"Section 2. The Juvenile Court Act of 1987 is amended by changing Section 5-740 as follows:

(705 ILCS 405/5-740)

Sec. 5-740. Placement; legal custody or guardianship.

(1) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (1.5), if If the court finds that the parents, guardian, or legal custodian of a minor adjudged a ward of the court are unfit or are unable, for some reason other than financial circumstances alone, to care for, protect, train or discipline the minor or are unwilling to do so, and that appropriate services aimed at family preservation and family reunification have been unsuccessful in rectifying the conditions which have led to a finding of unfitness or inability to care for, protect, train or discipline the minor, and that it is in the best interest of the minor to take him or her from the custody of his or her parents, guardian or custodian, the court may:

(a) place him or her in the custody of a suitable relative or other person;

(b) place him or her under the guardianship of a probation officer;

(c) commit him or her to an agency for care or placement, except an institution under the authority of the Department of Corrections or of the Department of Children and Family Services;

(d) commit him or her to some licensed training school or industrial school; or

(e) commit him or her to any appropriate institution having among its purposes the care of delinquent children, including a child protective facility maintained by a child protection district serving the county from which commitment is made, but not including any institution under the authority of the Department of Corrections or of the Department of Children and Family Services.

(1.5) If a minor under 13 years of age commits an act that if committed by an adult would be a violation of paragraph (13) of subsection (a) of Section 26-1 of the Criminal Code of 1961, the court may not place the minor in a juvenile detention center or facility.

(2) When making such placement, the court, wherever possible, shall select a person holding the same religious belief as that of the minor or a private agency controlled by persons of like religious faith of the minor and shall require the Department of Children and Family Services to otherwise comply with Section 7 of the Children and Family Services Act in placing the child. In addition, whenever alternative plans for placement are available, the court shall ascertain and consider, to the extent appropriate in the particular case, the views and preferences of the minor.

(3) When a minor is placed with a suitable relative or other person, the court shall appoint him or her the legal custodian or guardian of the person of the minor. When a minor is committed to any agency, the court shall appoint the proper officer or representative of the proper officer as legal custodian or guardian of the person of the minor. Legal custodians and guardians of the person of the minor have the respective rights and duties set forth in subsection (9) of Section 5-105 except as otherwise provided by order of court; but no guardian of the person may consent to adoption of the minor. An agency whose representative is appointed guardian of the person or legal custodian of the minor may place him or her in any child care facility, but the facility must be licensed under the Child Care Act of 1969 or have been approved by the Department of Children and Family Services as meeting the standards established for such licensing. Like authority and restrictions shall be conferred by the court upon any probation officer who has been appointed guardian of the person of a minor.

(4) No placement by any probation officer or agency whose representative is appointed guardian of the person or legal custodian of a minor may be made in any out of State child care facility unless it complies with the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children.

(5) The clerk of the court shall issue to the guardian or legal custodian of the person a certified copy of the order of court, as proof of his or her authority. No other process is necessary as authority for the keeping of the minor.

(6) Legal custody or guardianship granted under this Section continues until the court otherwise directs, but not after the minor reaches the age of 21 years except as set forth in Section 5-750.

(Source: P.A. 90-590, eff. 1-1-99.)".