Public Act 101-0147
 
HB2935 EnrolledLRB101 10499 SLF 55605 b

    AN ACT concerning courts.
 
    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 or her 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, vacating of appointment, 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 or is not
required to have 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
crime victim, as defined in Section 3 of the Rights of Crime
Victims and Witnesses Act, 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. 98-249, eff. 1-1-14.)

Effective Date: 1/1/2020