Chapter 0291 - 551R - S Ver of HB2247

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Section 8-515.01, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE8-515.01. Local foster care review boards; appointment; exclusions; terms; training; compensation; meetings

A. The presiding judge of the juvenile court in each county shall establish local foster care review boards for the review of cases of children who are in out-of-home placement and who are the subject of a dependency action to assist in the review required pursuant to section 8-862. The judge shall establish one board for each one hundred children, or fraction of that number. The judge may decide not to create an additional review board if the number of children assigned to a review board exceeds one hundred by fewer than fifty children. The boards shall consist of at least five regular members. The judge may appoint one alternate member for each board if deemed necessary. The alternate member shall receive all case correspondence and reports the same level of access to all necessary records, reports and data as a regular board member and shall serve on the review board in the absence of one of the regular members. Each board, to the maximum extent feasible, shall represent the various socioeconomic, racial and ethnic groups of the county in which it serves. A list of the members of each local board shall be sent to the supreme court.

B. The presiding judge shall not appoint a person employed by the division or the juvenile court to a local board.

C. On the appointment of a new local board, regular board members shall divide themselves by lot into three classes as nearly equal in number as possible. Members of the first class shall serve for a term of one year, members of the second class shall serve for a term of two years and members of the third class shall serve for a term of three years. All subsequent local board members, including alternate members, shall serve for a term of three years, except if a member has been appointed to fill a vacancy occasioned other than by the expiration of a full term of office. The term of each member shall expire on the third Monday in January of the appropriate year. Members shall continue to serve until a successor is appointed. In the event a vacancy occurs on the local board, the judge shall appoint another person to serve the unexpired portion of the term.

D. A person shall not remain on a local board unless the person participates in the training established pursuant to section 8-515.04.

E. Each local board shall elect a chairman and a vice-chairman and other officers as it deems necessary.

F. Local board members shall be compensated pursuant to title 38, chapter 4, article 2.

G. Each local board shall meet, at a place designated by the juvenile court, as often as it deems necessary to carry out the duties of the local board. A local board shall not meet less than twice annually. END_STATUTE

Sec. 2. Section 8-515.02, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE8-515.02. Case assignment; distribution of records

A. The juvenile court in each county shall assign cases of children in out-of-home placement to a local board so that local boards are assigned an approximately equal number of children. In a case where a child resides in a county other than the resident county of his the child's parents, the county of the child's original jurisdiction shall maintain jurisdiction unless, for valid reasons, the judge of such county transfers jurisdiction. A list of the cases so assigned shall be sent to the local board and the supreme court. For each case so assigned, the juvenile court shall also send to the local board:

1. A copy of the case plan prepared by the division or agency.

2. A copy of the progress report or reports prepared by the division or agency pursuant to section 8-516, subsection E.

B. Notwithstanding subsection A of this section, the juvenile court in each county in its discretion, or on the request of a mediator from the child welfare mediation program, may assign appropriate cases of children in out-of-home placement to a local foster care review board for early review of the case plan within sixty days after the removal of the child from the child's home. END_STATUTE

Sec. 3. Section 8-516, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE8-516. Supervision of foster homes; reports; review of file; progress report

A. A licensed child welfare agency shall maintain supervision of all children placed by it in foster homes and such foster homes.

B. The agency's representative shall contact the foster homes and written reports of the representative's findings shall be maintained by such agency, subject to the review of the division.

C. Receiving foster homes shall be visited at least once per month.

D. Regular and special foster homes shall be visited at least once every three months.

E. A complete review of the placement and progress concerning a child in a foster home shall be made by the division or the agency, if the juvenile court has awarded custody of the child to the agency, at least every six months. The division or agency shall prepare a progress report resulting from the review, and a copy of such report shall be sent to the juvenile court and the foster care review board. The progress report shall include:

1. An assessment of the extent to which the division or agency is accomplishing the purpose of foster care for the child as described in the case plan.

2. An assessment of the appropriateness of the case plan.

3. The length of time the child has been in foster care.

4. The number of foster home placements the child has experienced while in foster care and the length of each placement. END_STATUTE

Sec. 4. Section 8-519, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE8-519. Records and reports

A. Each child welfare agency shall keep records regarding the children in its care as the division prescribes and shall furnish to the division, upon on request, such additional information as the division requires.

B. Upon The department shall provide information necessary for foster care review boards to perform their statutory duties through an automated information exchange. The department and the administrative office of the courts on behalf of the state foster care review board shall enter into a data sharing agreement to govern the parameters of the automated information exchange. On the request of a foster care review board, any record pertaining to a case assigned to such board, kept by the division or a child welfare agency, shall be furnished to the board.

C. All records and information in the possession of the foster care review board regarding children and their parents or relatives shall be deemed confidential, and shall be disclosed only pursuant to this article chapter or by order of court.

D. A child welfare agency shall furnish a report of each placement or withdrawal of each child to the division. END_STATUTE

Sec. 5. Section 41-1376, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE41-1376. Powers and duties

A. The ombudsman-citizens aide shall:

1. Investigate the administrative acts of agencies pursuant to section 41-1377, subsections A and B except as provided in section 41-1377, subsections C, D and E. The ombudsman-citizens aide shall investigate the administrative acts of an agency without regard to the finality of the administrative act.

2. Annually before January 1 prepare a written report to the governor, the legislature and the public that contains a summary of the ombudsman-citizens aide's activities during the previous fiscal year. The ombudsman-citizens aide shall present this report annually before the legislative council and distribute copies of the report to the director of the governor's office of strategic planning and budgeting, the chairperson of the joint legislative budget committee and the cochairpersons of the administrative rules oversight committee. This report shall include:

(a) The ombudsman-citizens aide's mission statement.

(b) The number of matters that were within each of the categories specified in section 41-1379, subsection B.

(d) Selected case studies that illustrate the ombudsman-citizens aide's work and reasons for complaints.

(e) Ombudsman-citizens aide's contact statistics.

(f) A description of the public awareness and outreach activities conducted by the ombudsman-citizens aide.

(g) Ombudsman-citizens aide's staff.

3. Before conducting the first investigation, adopt rules that ensure that confidential information that is gathered will not be disclosed.

4. Appoint a deputy ombudsman and prescribe the duties of employees or, subject to appropriation, contract for the services of independent contractors necessary to administer the duties of the office of ombudsman-citizens aide. All staff serves at the pleasure of the ombudsman-citizens aide, and they are exempt from chapter 4, articles 5 and 6 of this title. All staff shall be are subject to the conflict of interest provisions of title 38, chapter 3, article 8.

5. Before conducting the first investigation, adopt rules that establish procedures for receiving and processing complaints, including guidelines to ensure each complainant has exhausted all reasonable alternatives within the agency, conducting investigations, incorporating agency responses into recommendations and reporting findings.

6. Notify the chief executive or administrative officer of the agency in writing of the intention to investigate unless notification would unduly hinder the investigation or make the investigation ineffectual.

7. Appoint an assistant to help the ombudsman-citizens aide investigate complaints relating to the department of child safety. The assistant shall have expertise in the department of child safety procedures and laws. Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, the ombudsman-citizens aide and the assistant have access to the department of child safety records and direct remote access to any automated case management system used by the department of child safety.

B. After the conclusion of an investigation and notice to the head of the agency pursuant to section 41-1379, the ombudsman-citizens aide may present the ombudsman-citizens aide's opinion and recommendations to the governor, the legislature, the office of the appropriate prosecutor or the public, or any combination of these persons. The ombudsman-citizens aide shall include in the opinion the reply of the agency, including those issues that were resolved as a result of the ombudsman-citizens aide's preliminary opinion or recommendation. END_STATUTE