Senate File 2174 S-5119 Amend Senate File 2174 as follows: 1 1. By striking everything after the enacting clause and 2 inserting: 3 < Section 1. Section 232.2, subsection 9, Code 2022, is 4 amended to read as follows: 5 9. “Court appointed special advocate” means a person duly 6 certified by the child advocacy board created in section 7 237.16 for participation in the court appointed special 8 advocate program and appointed by the court to represent the 9 interests of a child in any judicial proceeding to which the 10 child is a party or is called as a witness or relating to any 11 dispositional order involving the child resulting from such 12 proceeding carry out the duties required by section 237.24 . 13 Sec. 2. Section 237.15, Code 2022, is amended by adding the 14 following new subsection: 15 NEW SUBSECTION . 4A. “Fictive kin” means an adult person 16 who is not a relative of a child but who has an emotionally 17 positive significant relationship with the child or the child’s 18 family. 19 Sec. 3. Section 237.16, Code 2022, is amended by adding the 20 following new subsection: 21 NEW SUBSECTION . 4. The department and the department 22 of inspections and appeals shall jointly develop written 23 protocols detailing the responsibilities of each department 24 with regard to children under the purview of the state board. 25 The protocols shall be reviewed by the departments on an annual 26 basis. 27 Sec. 4. Section 237.17, Code 2022, is amended to read as 28 follows: 29 237.17 Foster care registry. 30 1. The state board shall establish a registry of the 31 placements of all children receiving foster care. The 32 department agency responsible for the placement shall notify 33 the state board of each placement within five working days of 34 the department’s notification of the placement in accordance 35 -1- SF 2174.4309 (3) 89 amending this SF 2174 to CONFORM to HF 2390 dg/rh 1/ 11 #1.

with written protocols adopted pursuant to section 237.16, 1 subsection 4 . The notification to the state board shall 2 include information identifying the child receiving foster care 3 and placement information for that child. 4 2. Within thirty days of the placement or two days after 5 the dispositional hearing the The agency responsible for the 6 placement shall submit the case permanency plan and all case 7 permanency plan revisions to the state board a local board in 8 accordance with written protocols adopted pursuant to section 9 237.16, subsection 4 . All subsequent revisions of the case 10 permanency plan shall be submitted when the revisions are 11 developed. 12 Sec. 5. Section 237.18, Code 2022, is amended to read as 13 follows: 14 237.18 Duties of state board. 15 The state board shall: 16 1. Review the activities and actions of local boards and the 17 court appointed special advocate program . 18 2. Adopt rules pursuant to chapter 17A to: 19 a. Establish a recordkeeping system for the files of local 20 review boards including individual case reviews. 21 b. Accumulate data and develop an annual report regarding 22 children in foster care served by the state board . The report 23 shall include: 24 (1) Personal data Data regarding the total number of days of 25 foster care provided and the characteristics of the children 26 receiving foster care. 27 (2) The number of placements of children in foster care. 28 (3) The frequency and results of court reviews. 29 c. Evaluate the judicial and administrative data collected 30 on foster care by local boards and court appointed special 31 advocates, and disseminate the data to the governor, the 32 supreme court, the chief judge of each judicial district, the 33 department, and child-placing agencies , and the state court 34 administrator for dissemination to the supreme court and the 35 -2- SF 2174.4309 (3) 89 amending this SF 2174 to CONFORM to HF 2390 dg/rh 2/ 11

chief judge of each judicial district . 1 d. Establish mandatory training programs for members of the 2 state and local review boards including an initial training 3 program and periodic in-service training programs board . 4 Training shall focus on, but not be limited to, the following: 5 (1) The history, philosophy and role of the juvenile court 6 in the child protection system The duties of the state board . 7 (2) Juvenile court procedures under the juvenile justice 8 act The duties of local boards . 9 (3) The foster care administrative review process of the 10 department of human services The duties of court appointed 11 special advocates . 12 (4) The role and procedures of the citizen’s foster care 13 review system Applicable child welfare laws and practices that 14 influence the work of local boards and court appointed special 15 advocates . 16 (5) The Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980, 17 Pub. L. No. 96-272. 18 (6) The purpose of case permanency plans, and the type of 19 information that will be available in those plans. 20 (7) The situations where the goals of either reuniting the 21 child with the child’s family or adoption would be appropriate. 22 (8) The legal processes that may lead to foster care 23 placement. 24 (9) The types and number of children involved in those legal 25 processes. 26 (10) The types of foster care placement available, with 27 emphasis on the types and number of facilities available on a 28 regional basis. 29 (11) The impact of specific physical or mental conditions of 30 a child on the type of placement most appropriate and the kind 31 of progress that should be expected in those situations. 32 e. Establish a mandatory training program and procedures for 33 the local review board boards consistent with the provisions 34 of section 237.20 . 35 -3- SF 2174.4309 (3) 89 amending this SF 2174 to CONFORM to HF 2390 dg/rh 3/ 11

f. Establish grounds and procedures for removal of a local 1 review board member. 2 g. f. Establish procedures and protocols for administering 3 the court appointed special advocate program in accordance with 4 subsection 7 6 . 5 3. Assign the cases of children receiving foster care to the 6 appropriate local boards. 7 4. Assist local boards in reviewing cases of children 8 receiving foster care, as provided in section 237.20 . 9 5. 4. Employ appropriate staff in accordance with available 10 funding. The board shall coordinate with the department of 11 inspections and appeals regarding administrative functions of 12 the board. 13 6. 5. In conjunction with the legislative services agency 14 and in consultation with the department of human services, 15 supreme court, and private foster care providers, develop and 16 maintain Maintain an evaluation program regarding citizen 17 foster care review programming. The evaluation program shall 18 be designed to evaluate the effectiveness of citizen reviews in 19 improving case permanency planning and meeting case permanency 20 planning goals, identify the amount of time children spend in 21 foster care placements, and identify problem issues in the 22 foster care system. The state board shall submit an annual 23 evaluation report to the governor and the general assembly. 24 7. 6. Administer the court appointed special advocate 25 program, including but not limited to performance of all of the 26 following: 27 a. Establish standards for the program, including but 28 not limited to standards for selection and screening of 29 volunteers, preservice training, ongoing continuing education, 30 and assignment and supervision of volunteers. Identifying 31 information concerning a court appointed special advocate, 32 other than the advocate’s name, shall not be considered to be a 33 public record under chapter 22 . 34 b. Implement the court appointed special advocate program in 35 -4- SF 2174.4309 (3) 89 amending this SF 2174 to CONFORM to HF 2390 dg/rh 4/ 11

additional areas of the state as deemed necessary to effectuate 1 its purpose including but not limited to employing court 2 appointed special advocate program staff as available funding 3 provides . 4 c. Promote adherence to the national guidelines for state 5 and local court appointed special advocate programs. 6 d. Issue an annual report of the court appointed special 7 advocate program for submission to the general assembly, the 8 governor, and the supreme court. 9 e. Employ appropriate court appointed special advocate 10 program staff in accordance with available funding. The state 11 board shall coordinate with the department of inspections and 12 appeals the performance of the administrative functions of the 13 state board. 14 8. 7. Receive gifts, grants, or donations made for any of 15 the purposes of the state board’s programs and disburse and 16 administer the funds received in accordance with the terms of 17 the donor and under the direction of program staff. The funds 18 received shall be used according to any restrictions attached 19 to the funds and any unrestricted funds shall be retained 20 and applied to the applicable program budget for the next 21 succeeding fiscal year. 22 9. 8. Make recommendations to the general assembly, the 23 department, to child-placing agencies, the governor, and the 24 state court administrator for dissemination to the supreme 25 court , and the chief judge of each judicial district , and to 26 the judicial branch . The recommendations shall include but 27 are not limited to identification of systemic problems in 28 the foster care and the juvenile justice systems, specific 29 proposals for improvements that assist the systems in being 30 more cost-effective and better able to protect the best 31 interests of children, and necessary changes relating to the 32 data collected and the annual report made under subsection 2 , 33 paragraph “b” . 34 Sec. 6. Section 237.19, Code 2022, is amended to read as 35 -5- SF 2174.4309 (3) 89 amending this SF 2174 to CONFORM to HF 2390 dg/rh 5/ 11

follows: 1 237.19 Local citizen foster care review boards. 2 1. The state board shall establish local citizen foster 3 care review boards to review cases of children receiving foster 4 care. The department shall discontinue its foster care review 5 process for those children reviewed by local boards as local 6 boards are established and operating. The state board shall 7 select a minimum of five members and two alternate a maximum of 8 seven members to serve on each local board in consultation with 9 the chief judge of each judicial district . The actual number 10 of local boards needed and established shall be determined 11 by the state board. The members of each local board shall 12 consist of persons of , to the extent possible, reflect the 13 various social, economic, racial , and ethnic groups and various 14 occupations of their district. A person employed by the state 15 board , or the department, the department of inspections and 16 appeals, or the district court, or an employee of an agency 17 with which the department contracts for services for children 18 under foster care, a foster parent providing foster care, or 19 a child-placing agency shall not serve on a local board. The 20 state board shall provide the names of the members of the local 21 boards to the department. 22 2. Vacancies on a local board shall be filled in the 23 same manner as original appointments. The members shall not 24 receive per diem but shall receive reimbursement for actual and 25 necessary expenses incurred in their duties as members. 26 3. A local board member shall be required to pass a 27 background check and complete requirements as established by 28 the state board prior to taking an oath of confidentiality to 29 serve on a local board. 30 4. A local board member shall be required to receive 31 periodic continuing education during each term of service as 32 established by the state board. 33 Sec. 7. Section 237.20, subsection 1, unnumbered paragraph 34 1, Code 2022, is amended to read as follows: 35 -6- SF 2174.4309 (3) 89 amending this SF 2174 to CONFORM to HF 2390 dg/rh 6/ 11

Review the case of each child receiving foster care 1 assigned to the a local board by the state board in accordance 2 with written protocols adopted pursuant to section 237.16, 3 subsection 4, to determine whether satisfactory progress 4 is being made toward the goals of the case permanency plan 5 pursuant to section 237.22 . The timing and frequency of 6 a review of each case by a local board shall take into 7 consideration the permanency goals, placement setting, and 8 frequency of any court reviews of the case. 9 Sec. 8. Section 237.20, subsection 1, paragraph a, 10 subparagraph (2), Code 2022, is amended to read as follows: 11 (2) The efforts of the agency responsible for the placement 12 of the child to locate and provide services to the child’s 13 biological or adoptive parents of the child , legal guardians, 14 or fictive kin providing the majority of a child’s daily food, 15 lodging, and support . 16 Sec. 9. Section 237.20, subsection 1, paragraphs b, c, and 17 d, Code 2022, are amended to read as follows: 18 b. The review shall include issues pertaining to the 19 case permanency plan and shall not include issues that do 20 not pertain to the case permanency plan. A person notified 21 pursuant to subsection 4 shall either attend the review or 22 submit testimony a statement as requested by the local board 23 or in accordance with a written protocol jointly developed by 24 the state board and the department. Oral testimony Statements 25 may, upon the request of the testifier an interested party or 26 upon motion of the local board, be given in a private setting 27 when to do so would facilitate the presentation of evidence . 28 Statements may be made in written, oral, or electronic form. 29 Local board questions reviews shall pertain to the permanency 30 plan and shall not include issues that do not pertain to the 31 permanency plan. 32 c. A person who gives an oral testimony statement has the 33 right to representation by counsel at the review. 34 d. An agency or individual providing services to the child 35 -7- SF 2174.4309 (3) 89 amending this SF 2174 to CONFORM to HF 2390 dg/rh 7/ 11

shall submit testimony statements as requested by the local 1 board. The testimony may be written or oral, or may be a 2 tape recorded telephone call. Written testimony or recorded 3 statements from other interested parties may also be considered 4 by the board in its review. 5 Sec. 10. Section 237.20, subsection 2, paragraph a, Code 6 2022, is amended to read as follows: 7 a. Submit to the appropriate court and the department within 8 fifteen days after the review under subsection 1 , the findings 9 and recommendations of the review. The local board shall 10 ensure that the most recent report is available for a court 11 hearing. The report to the court shall include information 12 regarding the case permanency plan and the progress in 13 attaining the permanency goals. The report shall not include 14 issues that do not pertain to the case permanency plan. The 15 findings and recommendations shall include the proposed date 16 of the next review by the local board. The local board shall 17 notify the persons specified in subsection 4 of the findings 18 and recommendations. 19 Sec. 11. Section 237.20, subsection 4, paragraph a, Code 20 2022, is amended by adding the following new subparagraph: 21 NEW SUBPARAGRAPH . (9) An intervenor. 22 Sec. 12. Section 237.21, subsection 2, Code 2022, is amended 23 to read as follows: 24 2. Information and records relating to a child receiving 25 foster care and to the child’s family shall be provided to 26 a court appointed special advocate, a local board , or the 27 state board by the department , the department’s agent, or a 28 child-care child placement agency receiving purchase-of-service 29 funds from the department contracted by the department upon 30 request by the court appointed special advocate or either 31 board. A court having jurisdiction of a child receiving 32 foster care shall release the information and records the 33 court deems necessary to determine the needs of the child , 34 if the information and records are not obtainable elsewhere, 35 -8- SF 2174.4309 (3) 89 amending this SF 2174 to CONFORM to HF 2390 dg/rh 8/ 11

to a local board or the state board court appointed special 1 advocate upon request by either the local board or court 2 appointed special advocate . If confidential information and 3 records are distributed to individual members in advance of a 4 meeting of the state board or a local board, the information 5 and records shall be clearly identified as confidential and the 6 members shall take appropriate steps to prevent unauthorized 7 disclosure. If confidential information and records are 8 distributed to a court appointed special advocate or court 9 appointed special advocate program staff, the information shall 10 be confidential and the court appointed special advocate and 11 court appointed special advocate program staff shall take 12 appropriate steps to prevent unauthorized disclosure. 13 Sec. 13. Section 237.21, subsection 4, Code 2022, is amended 14 to read as follows: 15 4. A court appointed special advocate may disclose 16 case-related observations and recommendations to the agency 17 assigned by the court to supervise the case, to the county 18 attorney, or to the child’s legal representative or guardian ad 19 litem , or at a local board meeting . Case-related observations 20 and recommendations about a child and the child’s parent or 21 about a child and the child’s legal guardian may also be 22 disclosed to the parent or guardian to which the observations 23 and recommendations pertain or to such parent or guardian’s 24 legal representative. 25 Sec. 14. Section 237.22, Code 2022, is amended to read as 26 follows: 27 237.22 Case permanency plan. 28 The agency responsible for the placement of the child shall 29 create a case permanency plan. The plan shall In addition to 30 requirements stated in section 232.2, subsection 4, the plan 31 shall also include , but not be limited to: 32 1. Plans for carrying out the voluntary placement agreement 33 or judicial determination pursuant to which the child entered 34 care. 35 -9- SF 2174.4309 (3) 89 amending this SF 2174 to CONFORM to HF 2390 dg/rh 9/ 11

2. 1. Time frames to meet the stated permanency goal and 1 short-term objectives. 2 3. The type and appropriateness of the placement and 3 services to be provided to the child. 4 4. 2. The care and services that will be provided to the 5 child, biological parents, the child’s fictive kin, and foster 6 parents. 7 5. How the care and services will meet the needs of the 8 child while in care and will facilitate the child’s return home 9 or other permanent placement. 10 6. 3. The efforts to place the child with a relative or 11 fictive kin . 12 7. 4. The rationale for an out-of-state placement, and the 13 efforts to prevent such placement, if the child has been placed 14 out of state. 15 Sec. 15. NEW SECTION . 237.24 Court appointed special 16 advocates. 17 1. A court appointed special advocate shall receive notice 18 of all depositions, hearings, and trial proceedings in a matter 19 to which the court appointed special advocate is appointed. 20 2. The duties of a court appointed special advocate with 21 respect to a child, unless otherwise enlarged or circumscribed 22 by a court or juvenile court with jurisdiction over the 23 child after a finding of good cause, shall include all of the 24 following: 25 a. Conducting in-person interviews with the child every 26 thirty days, if the child’s age is appropriate for the 27 interview, and interviewing each parent, guardian, or other 28 person having custody of the child as needed, if authorized by 29 counsel. 30 b. Visiting the home, residence, or both home and residence 31 of the child and any prospective home or residence of the 32 child, including each time placement is changed. 33 c. Interviewing any person providing medical, mental health, 34 social, educational, or other services to the child. 35 -10- SF 2174.4309 (3) 89 amending this SF 2174 to CONFORM to HF 2390 dg/rh 10/ 11

d. Obtaining firsthand knowledge, if possible, of the facts, 1 circumstances, and parties involved in the matter in which the 2 court appointed special advocate is appointed. 3 e. Attending any depositions, hearings, and trial 4 proceedings in a matter to which the court appointed special 5 advocate is appointed for the purpose of supporting the child 6 and advocating for the child’s protection. 7 f. Assisting the transition committee in the development of 8 a transition plan if the child’s case permanency plan calls for 9 the development of a transition plan. 10 g. (1) Submitting a written report to the juvenile court 11 and to each of the parties identified in section 237.21, 12 subsection 4, prior to each court hearing unless otherwise 13 ordered by the court. 14 (2) The report shall include but not be limited to the 15 identified strengths of the child and the child’s family, 16 concerns identified by the court appointed special advocate, 17 the court appointed special advocate’s recommendations 18 regarding the child’s placement, and other recommendations the 19 court appointed special advocate believes are in the child’s 20 best interests. 21 h. Submitting periodic reports to the court or juvenile 22 court with jurisdiction over a child and interested parties 23 detailing the child’s situation as long as the child remains 24 under the jurisdiction of the court or juvenile court. 25 i. Filing other reports as ordered by a court or juvenile 26 court. > 27 ______________________________ JEFF EDLER ______________________________ MARK COSTELLO -11- SF 2174.4309 (3) 89 amending this SF 2174 to CONFORM to HF 2390 dg/rh 11/ 11