750 ILCS 63/15: Family Justice Centers.

(This Section may contain text from a Public Act with a delayed effective date)

(a) A city, county, State, community-based nonprofit organization, or a combination of these entities may establish a multiagency, multidisciplinary Family Justice Center to assist survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence, stalking, and human trafficking, to ensure that survivors are able to access needed services in one location, to enhance survivor safety, to increase offender accountability, and to improve access to services.

(b) A Family Justice Center is a multiagency, multidisciplinary service center where public and private agencies assign staff members on a full-time or part-time basis to provide services to survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence, stalking, and human trafficking from one location, to reduce the number of times survivors must repeat their accounts, to reduce the number of places survivors must go for help, and to increase access to services and support for survivors and their children. A Family Justice Center shall, as appropriate, partner with other agencies to provide services.

(c) Staff members at a Family Justice Center may include, but are not limited to:

(1) domestic violence providers recognized by the Department of Human Services;

(2) rape crisis organizations as defined in Section 8-802.1 of the Code of Civil Procedure;

(3) civil legal service providers, in accordance with memoranda of understanding developed by the Family Justice Center;

(4) legal advocacy providers, in accordance with memoranda of understanding developed by the Family Justice Center;

(5) mental health care providers, in accordance with memoranda of understanding developed by the Family Justice Center;

(6) housing providers, in accordance with memoranda of understanding developed by the Family Justice Center;

(7) substance-use counselors, in accordance with memoranda of understanding developed by the Family Justice Center;

(8) Family Justice Center administrative personnel;

(9) medical personnel;

(10) local Children's Advocacy Centers;

(11) law enforcement;

(12) the State's Attorney's office and victim-witness personnel;

(13) supervised volunteers of partner agencies; and

(14) other professional agencies serving survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence, stalking, or human trafficking, in accordance with memoranda of understanding developed by the Family Justice Center.

(d) If Department of Children and Family Services personnel are present on site at a Family Justice Center, they shall only interact with a survivor receiving services from the Family Justice Center upon the survivor's request.

(e) This Section does not abrogate existing laws regarding privacy or information sharing. Family Justice Center staff members shall comply with the laws governing their respective professions.

(f) Survivors shall not be required to participate with law enforcement, the Department of Children and Family Services, or the criminal justice system to receive services at a Family Justice Center. A Family Justice Center shall establish memoranda of understanding with law enforcement, the Department of Children and Family Services, and State's Attorneys' offices to facilitate collaboration, improved processes, and systems change for the benefit of survivors and the health, safety, and well-being of the community.

(g) Each Family Justice Center shall consult with statewide and local community-based domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and human trafficking agencies, in partnership with survivors and their advocates, in the operation of the Family Justice Center. Each Family Justice Center shall establish procedures for ongoing input, feedback, and evaluation by survivors and community-based survivor service providers and advocates.

(h) Each Family Justice Center shall develop operating agreements, policies, and procedures, in collaboration with local community-based survivor service providers and local survivors, to ensure coordinated services and to enhance the safety of survivors and professionals at the Family Justice Center, including participants in affiliated survivor-centered support or advocacy groups. Each Family Justice Center shall maintain a formal survivor feedback, complaint, and input process to address concerns about services or the conduct of any Family Justice Center professionals, agency partners, or volunteers.

(i) Each Family Justice Center shall provide survivors with educational materials relating to rights available under Illinois law.

(j) Each Family Justice Center shall maintain a survivor's informed, specific, and time-limited consent. The consent policy, and the sharing of any details gathered from the survivor, the survivor's family, or other sources shall follow all State and federal laws, including, but not limited to, the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, so as to protect the confidentiality of information gathered and any documents in a survivor's file, including, but not limited to, medical records, legal records, survivor counselor records, and any other information gathered during intake or throughout the period of engagement with the survivor. Each Family Justice Center shall develop privacy policies and procedures consistent with State and federal privacy and confidentiality laws and the Fair Information Practice Principles adopted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in Privacy Policy Guidance Memorandum 2008-01.

(k) A Family Justice Center shall obtain informed, written, time-limited consent from a survivor before sharing information obtained from the survivor with any staff member or agency partner, except that a Family Justice Center shall inform the survivor that information shared with staff members or partner agencies may be shared with the Department of Children and Family Services or a peace officer without the survivor's consent if there is a mandatory duty to report or if the survivor is a danger to self or others. A Family Justice Center shall obtain written acknowledgment that the survivor has been informed of this policy.

(l) Consent by a survivor to share information within a Family Justice Center under this Section shall not be construed as a universal waiver of any evidentiary privilege that makes confidential communications or documents between the survivor and a service provider, including, without limitation, any lawyer, advocate, rape crisis counselor, or domestic violence counselor, and including protections under applicable State and federal law, such as the Address Confidentiality for Victims of Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, Human Trafficking, or Stalking Act; and Sections 8-802, 8-802.1, and 8-802.2 of the Code of Civil Procedure. Any oral or written communication or document authorized by the survivor to be shared for the purposes of enhancing safety and providing more effective and efficient services shall not be disclosed to any third party, unless authorized by the survivor or required by State or federal law or court order.

(m) An individual staff member, volunteer, or agency that has survivor information governed by this Section shall not be required to disclose that information unless the survivor has consented to the disclosure or the disclosure is consistent with applicable State law regarding crime victims' rights.

(n) A disclosure of information consented to by the survivor in a Family Justice Center, made for the purposes of clinical assessment, risk assessment, safety planning, or service delivery, shall not be deemed a waiver of any privilege or confidentiality provision contained in any other law of this State.

(o) In addition to any other required training, each Family Justice Center shall maintain a training program with mandatory training of not less than 16 hours per year for all persons providing services at the Family Justice Center, including, but not limited to, training on evidentiary privileges, confidentiality provisions, information sharing, risk assessment, safety planning, survivor advocacy, and high-risk case response.