ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 517
(Senators Foster, Unger and Hunter, originals sponsors)
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[Passed March 11, 2006; in effect from passage.]
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AN ACTL to amend and reenact §49-5-13a and §49-5-20 of the Code of
West Virginia, 1931, as amended; and to amend and reenact
§49-5D-3 of said code, all relating to juvenile proceedings
and multidisciplinary teams; requiring the Division of
Juvenile Services to establish a multidisciplinary team
treatment planning process for certain juveniles in its
custody; requiring multidisciplinary team to be convened and
directed by the Division of Juvenile Services for juveniles
committed to its custody by the court for examination and
diagnosis; specifying members of the multidisciplinary team;
requiring multidisciplinary team to be convened for juveniles
prior to discharge from a juvenile correctional facility;
authorizing those who convene a multidisciplinary team meeting
to obtain an order of the circuit court setting a hearing and
compelling attendance; and exceptions to team meeting
requirement.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §49-5-13a and §49-5-20 of the Code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted; and that §49-5D-3 of
said code be amended and reenacted, all to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5. JUVENILE PROCEEDINGS.
§49-5-13a. Examination, diagnosis and classification; period of
custody.
(a) As a part of the dispositional proceeding for a juvenile
who has been adjudicated delinquent, the court may, upon its own
motion or upon request of counsel, order the juvenile to be
delivered into the custody of the Director of the Division of
Juvenile Services, who shall cause the juvenile to be transferred
to a juvenile diagnostic center for a period not to exceed sixty
days. During this period, the juvenile shall undergo examination,
diagnosis, classification and a complete medical examination and
shall at all times be kept apart from the general juvenile inmate
population in the director's custody.
(b) During the examination period established by subsection
(a) of this section, the director, or his or her designee, shall
convene and direct a multidisciplinary treatment team for the
juvenile which team shall include the juvenile, if appropriate, the
juvenile's probation officer, the juvenile's social worker, if any,
the juvenile's custodial parent or parents, the juvenile's
guardian, attorneys representing the juvenile or the parents, the
guardian ad litem, if any, the prosecuting attorney and an appropriate school official or representative. The team may also
include, where appropriate, a court-appointed special advocate, a
member of a child advocacy center and any other person who may
assist in providing recommendations for the particular needs of the
juvenile and the family.
(c) Not later than sixty days after commitment pursuant to
this section the juvenile shall be remanded and delivered to the
custody of the director, an appropriate agency or any other person
that the court by its order directs. Within ten days after the end
of the examination, diagnosis and classification, the Director of
the Division of Juvenile Services shall make or cause to be made a
report to the court containing the results, findings, conclusions
and recommendations of the multidisciplinary team with respect to
that juvenile.
§49-5-20. After-care plans.
(a) Prior to the discharge of a juvenile from any institution
or facility to which the juvenile was committed pursuant to
subdivision (5) or (6), subsection (b), section thirteen of this
article, the superintendent of the institution or facility shall
call a meeting of the multidisciplinary treatment team to which the
child has been referred or, if no referral has been made, convene
a multidisciplinary treatment team for any child for which a
multidisciplinary treatment plan is required by the provisions of
section three, article five-d of this chapter and forward a copy of
the juvenile's proposed after-care plan to the circuit court which
committed the juvenile. A copy of the plan shall also be sent to: (1) The juvenile's parents or legal guardian; (2) the juvenile's
lawyer; (3) the juvenile's probation officer or community mental
health center professional; (4) the prosecuting attorney of the
county in which the original commitment proceedings were held; and
(5) the principal of the school which the juvenile will attend.
The plan shall have a list of the names and addresses of these
persons attached to it.
(b) The after-care plan shall contain a detailed description
of the education, counseling and treatment which the juvenile
received while at the institution or facility and it shall also
propose a plan for education, counseling and treatment for the
juvenile upon the juvenile's discharge. The plan shall also
contain a description of any problems the juvenile has, including
the source of those problems, and it shall propose a manner for
addressing those problems upon discharge.
(c) Within twenty-one days of receiving the plan, the
juvenile's probation officer or community mental health center
professional shall submit written comments upon the plan to the
circuit court which committed the juvenile. Any other person who
received a copy of the plan pursuant to subsection (a) of this
section may submit written comments upon the plan to the circuit
court which committed the juvenile. Any person who submits
comments upon the plan shall send a copy of those comments to every
other person who received a copy of the plan.
(d) Within twenty-one days of receiving the plan, the
juvenile's probation officer or community mental health center professional shall contact all persons, organizations and agencies
which are to be involved in executing the plan to determine whether
they are capable of executing their responsibilities under the plan
and to further determine whether they are willing to execute their
responsibilities under the plan.
(e) If adverse comments or objections regarding the plan are
submitted to the circuit court, it shall, within forty-five days of
receiving the plan, hold a hearing to consider the plan and the
adverse comments or objections. Any person, organization or agency
which has responsibilities in executing the plan, or their
representatives, may be required to appear at the hearing unless
they are excused by the circuit court. Within five days of the
hearing, the circuit court shall issue an order which adopts the
plan as submitted or as modified in response to any comments or
objections.
(f) If no adverse comments or objections are submitted, a
hearing need not be held. In that case, the circuit court shall
consider the plan as submitted and shall, within forty-five days of
receiving the plan, issue an order which adopts the plan as
submitted.
(g) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections (e) and (f)
of this section, the plan which is adopted by the circuit court
shall be in the best interests of the juvenile and shall also be in
conformity with West Virginia's interest in youth as embodied in
subsection (b), section thirteen of this article.
(h) The circuit court which committed the juvenile shall appoint the juvenile's probation officer or community mental health
center professional to act as supervisor of the plan. The
supervisor shall report the juvenile's progress under the plan to
the circuit court every sixty days or until the circuit court
determines that no report or no further care is necessary.
ARTICLE 5D. MULTIDISCIPLINARY TEAMS.
§49-5D-3. Multidisciplinary treatment planning process.
(a) (1) A multidisciplinary treatment planning process shall
be established within each county of the state, either separately
or in conjunction with a contiguous county, by the secretary of the
department with advice and assistance from the prosecutor's
advisory council as set forth in section four, article four,
chapter seven of this code. The Division of Juvenile Services
shall establish a similar treatment planning process for
delinquency cases in which the juvenile has been committed to the
custody of the director of the division.
(2) Treatment teams shall assess, plan and implement a
comprehensive, individualized service plan for children who are
victims of abuse or neglect and their families when a judicial
proceeding has been initiated involving the child or children for
juveniles and their families involved in status offense or
delinquency proceedings when, in a status offense proceeding, the
court refers the juvenile for services pursuant to sections eleven
and eleven-a, article five of this chapter and when, in a
delinquency proceeding, the court is considering placing the
juvenile in the department's custody or placing the juvenile out-of-home at the department's expense pursuant to the provisions
of section thirteen of said article. In any such status offense or
delinquency case, the juvenile probation officer shall notify the
local office of the Department of Health and Human Resources and
the Division of Juvenile Services at least five working days before
the court proceeding in order to allow the multidisciplinary
treatment team to convene and develop a comprehensive
individualized service plan for the child: Provided, That such
notice is not required in cases where the child is already in state
custody or there exist exigent circumstances which justify taking
the child immediately into custody without a judicial proceeding.
In developing an individualized service plan for a child, the team
shall utilize a uniform comprehensive assessment of the child. The
department shall adopt a standard uniform comprehensive assessment
instrument or protocol to be used by treatment teams.
(3) Prior to disposition, in each case in which a treatment
planning team has been convened, the team shall advise the court as
to the types of services the team has determined are needed and the
type of placement, if any, which will best serve the needs of the
child. If the team determines that an out-of-home placement will
best serve the needs of the child, the team shall first consider
placement at facilities or programs located within the state. The
team may only recommend placement in an out-of-state facility if it
concludes, after considering the best interests and overall needs
of the child, that there are no available and suitable in-state
facilities which can satisfactorily meet the specific needs of the child.
(b) Each treatment team shall be convened and directed by the
child's or family's case manager in the Department of Health and
Human Resources or the Division of Juvenile Services if the
juvenile has been ordered into its custody for examination and
diagnosis pursuant to section thirteen, article five of this
chapter. The treatment team shall consist of the child's custodial
parent or parents, guardian or guardians, other immediate family
members, the attorney or attorneys representing the child, the
parent or parents of the child, the child's attorney, the guardian
ad litem, if any, the prosecuting attorney or his or her designee
and where appropriate to the particular case under consideration
and available, a court-appointed special advocate, a member of a
child advocacy center, an appropriate school official and any other
person or an agency representative who may assist in providing
recommendations for the particular needs of the child and family.
The child may participate in multidisciplinary treatment team
meetings if such is deemed appropriate by the multidisciplinary
treatment team. For purposes of delinquency proceedings, the
juvenile probation officer shall be a member of the treatment team.
Any person authorized by the provisions of this chapter to convene
a multidisciplinary team meeting may seek and receive an order of
the circuit court setting such meeting and directing attendance.
Members of the multidisciplinary team may participate in team
meetings by telephone or video conferencing.
(c) The treatment team shall coordinate its activities and membership with local family resource networks and coordinate with
other local and regional child and family service planning
committees to assure the efficient planning and delivery of child
and family services on a local and regional level.
(d) State, county and local agencies shall provide the
multidisciplinary treatment teams with any information requested in
writing by the team as allowable by law or upon receipt of a
certified copy of the circuit court's order directing said agencies
to release information in its possession relating to the child.
The team shall assure that all information received and developed
in connection with the provisions of this article remain
confidential. For purposes of this section, the term
"confidential" shall be construed in accordance with the provisions
of section one, article seven of this chapter.
(e) Nothing in this section may be construed to require a
multidisciplinary team meeting to be held prior to temporarily
placing a child out-of-home under exigent circumstances or upon a
court order placing the juvenile in a juvenile facility operated by
the Division of Juvenile Services.