Official Summary Text
In addition to appointing a guardian ad litem, present law authorizes a court to a
ppoint a nonlawyer special advocate trained in accordance with that role and in accordance with the standards of the Tennessee Court Appointed Special Advocates Association (CASA) to act in the best interest of a child before, during
,
and after court proceedings.
The court-appointed special advocate
(i) must
conduct such investigation and make such reports and recommendations pertaining to the welfare of a child as the court
may order or direct
, (ii) is
presumed to be acting in good faith
,
and
(iii)
is
immune from any liability that might otherwise be incurred while acting within the scope of such appointment.
This bill
clarifies the
court-appointed special advocate
's role and describes
how such advocate may
investigate, report, and
make
recommend
ations
for the welfare of a child.
ROLE
This bill clarifies that t
he sole purpose of appointing a court-appointed special advocate is to provide
(i)
an additional, but independent, source of factual information to the judge and other parties and
(ii)
the most comprehensive, accurate, complete, and timely information for a judicial officer to consider in making initial, intermediate, or final decisions as to the placement, custody, and future of a child and family involved
.
ACCESS TO INFORMATION
Upon request of the court-appointed special advocate,
this bill requires
the department
of children's services
to
provide full, accurate, complete, unrestricted, unredacted access to originals or copies of all current and historical information in the department's possession, whether authored by the department or another source, regarding the child, parents, or othe
r person or organization identified by the court-appointed special advocate as having information pertinent or with personal relevance to the i
nvestigation
within ten business days of the request being made.
Additionally, this bill generally requires the department of children's services
department,
an
administrative agency,
a
school,
a
clerk of the court,
an
organization, or
a
law enforcement agency of this state
to
provide full, accurate, complete, unrestricted, and unredacted access to originals or copies of all information it possesses regarding the child, parents, or other persons or organizations identified by the court-appointed special advocate as having info
rmation about or being pertinent to the inst
ant case
within ten business days of the request being made
.
However, this provision does not apply to i
nformation held by any law enforcement agency with regard to a current, active, or ongoing criminal investigation
.
OBTAINING PROCESS
U
nless an attorney is assigned or engaged to assist or represent the court-appointed special advocate,
this bill requires
the court supervising the case
to
create an active mechanism through which the court-appointed special advocate may obtain process for records or testimony not obtainable by other means.
Current Bill Text
Read the full stored bill text
SENATE BILL 1755
By Haile
HOUSE BILL 1783
By Butler
HB1783
011518
- 1 -
AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 37,
Chapter 1, Part 1, relative to court-appointed
special advocates.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 37-1-149(b), is amended by deleting
subdivision (2) and substituting:
(2) A court may order or direct a court-appointed special advocate to conduct an
investigation and make reports and recommendations pertaining to the welfare of a child
as follows:
(A) The sole purpose of appointing a court-appointed special advocate is
to provide an additional, but independent, source of factual information to the
judge and other parties and thus providing the most comprehensive, accurate,
complete, and timely information for a judicial officer to consider in making initial,
intermediate, or final decisions as to the placement, custody, and future of a child
and family involved;
(B) Upon request of the court-appointed special advocate, the
department shall provide full, accurate, complete, unrestricted, and unredacted
access to originals or copies of all current and historical information in the
department's possession, whether authored by the department or another
source, regarding the child, parents, or other person or organization identified by
the court-appointed special advocate as having information pertinent or with
personal relevance to the investigation within ten (10) business days of the
request being made;
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(C) A department, administrative agency, school, clerk of the court,
organization, or law enforcement agency of this state shall provide full, accurate,
complete, unrestricted, and unredacted access to originals or copies of all
information it possesses regarding the child, parents, or other persons or
organizations identified by the court-appointed special advocate as having
information about or being pertinent to the instant case within ten (10) business
days of the request being made. Information held by any law enforcement
agency with regard to a current, active, or ongoing criminal investigation is
exempted from the requirements in this subdivision (b)(2)(C); and
(D) Unless an attorney is assigned or engaged to assist or represent the
court-appointed special advocate, the court supervising the case shall create an
active mechanism through which the court-appointed special advocate may
obtain process for records or testimony not obtainable by other means.
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it.