Family Rights Advocate Act

Liberty Independence & Family Equality

Text Box: The Family Advocate Act Drafted January 16, 2006 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania hereby enacts as follows: Section 1. Short title. This act shall be known and may be cited as the Family Advocate Act. Section 2. Legislative findings, purpose and scope. (a) Findings.—The General Assembly hereby finds as follows: (1) The provisions and protections of the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (the Commonwealth), federal and Commonwealth statutes including but not limited to the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (42 U.S.C. § 671) and the Commonwealth’s Child Protective Services statutes (23 Pa.C.S.A. § 63) and the Juvenile Act (42 Pa.C.S.A. § 63) (collectively, the “CPSL”), have not been applied or have been misapplied by the Commonwealth’s Children and Youth agencies, its employees and agents, law enforcement personnel, the courts and all others placed in essential positions pursuant to Child Protective Services (collectively “CPS). (2) Relaxed or non-existent regulatory oversight, perceived absolute or qualified immunity by CPS personnel and relaxed or non-existent reporting standards have created a CPS system that does not operate within the bounds of American law. (3) Factors enumerated in Section 2 (a)(1), (a)(2) and Section 2 (a) of the Family Preservation Act of 2006, have resulted in a rampant and fraudulent culture of corruption and abuse of power that has served to violate the inalienable human rights and statutory civil rights of children and members of their family. (4) Constitutional law, the CPSL and other federal and state statutes and any currently proposed and future legislation, have no relevance and are rendered powerless when no competent entity exists to enforce them. (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to: (1) Establish the Office of the Family Advocate (the Office) in the Executive Branch of the Government of the Commonwealth. (2) Establish the chief executive officer position of the Family Advocate (the Advocate), elected by the people of the Commonwealth (the People). (3) Establish the Citizen’s Rights Review Board (the Board). (c) Scope.--The scope of this Act applies to all the statutory and other provisions of the Family Preservation Act of 2006 and is incorporated in its entirety pursuant to Section 16 of the Family Preservation Act of 2006. Section 3. Definitions. As used in this Act: (1) “hearing” means any judicial or administrative hearing. (2) “agency” means any state or local government unit or sub-unit. (3) “child” means any person under 18 years of age. (4) “family” means any permanent unit including a child and the child’s legal custodial guardian and caretaker, recognized by the Commonwealth as one or both biological parents or adoptive parents. This definition is not applicable to any non-permanent custodial unit. Section 4. Office of the Family Advocate. The Office of the Family Advocate is hereby established in the Executive Branch of the Government of the Commonwealth. The Office shall be independent of supervision or control by any other department or agency of the Commonwealth. Section 5. The Family Advocate, position, term and vacancy. (a) Position.--The administrator and chief executive officer of the Office shall be the Family Advocate. (b) Term.--The Advocate shall be elected by the People, by popular vote, to serve for a term of 5 years. (c) Vacancy.—A vacancy occurring in the position of Advocate shall be filled in the same manner as stipulated in subsection (b) of this Act, except that if the Advocate dies, resigns, becomes ineligible to serve for any reason or is removed from office in mid-term, the Governor shall appoint an acting Advocate who shall serve until the election of the Advocate’s successor. Section 6. Duties of the Advocate. (a) The Advocate shall: (1) Administer the work of the Office; (2) Appoint and remove such officers, investigators, clerical assistants, agents and other personnel as may be required for the conduct of the Office, subject to the provisions of applicable statutes, except as provided otherwise, herein; (3) Formulate and adopt rules and regulations for the efficient conduct of the work and general administration of the Office, its officers and employees, subject to the provisions of applicable statutes, except as provided otherwise, herein; (4) Institute or cause to be instituted such legal proceedings or processes consistent with the rules governing the courts of the Commonwealth as may be necessary to properly enforce and give effect to any of the Advocate’s power and duties. (b) Consistent with the provisions of law, the Advocate shall have access to, including the right to inspect and copy, any records necessary to carry out the Advocate’s responsibilities under this Act. (c) The Advocate may issue subpoenas to compel the attendance and testimony of witnesses or the production of books, papers and other documents, and administer oaths to witnesses in any matter under the investigation of the Office. If any person to whom such subpoena is issued fails to appear or, having appeared, refuses to give testimony, or fails to produce the books, papers or other documents required, the Advocate may apply to any court of the Commonwealth of appropriate jurisdiction to compel such person to appear and give testimony or produce the books, papers or other documents, as required and applicable. (d) The Advocate shall disseminate information to the People on the objectives of the Office, the services the Office provides and the methods by which the Office may be contacted. (e) The Advocate shall aid the Governor in proposing methods of achieving increased collaboration among Commonwealth agencies to ensure maximum effectiveness and efficiency pursuant to the provisions of this Act. Section 7. The Citizen’s Rights Review Board. (a) The Advocate shall appoint any number of officers to serve as members of the Board (Members), as may be necessary to serve the function of the Board efficiently and in the most effective manner pursuant to the provisions of this Act. (b) Pursuant to subsection (a), the Members shall, at minimum, consist of a qualified person who is a college graduate, a parent and has a minimum of 5 years of professional experience from each of the following professions: (1) Family law and civil rights attorney; (2) Pediatrician; (3) Registered pediatrics nurse; (4) Child psychologist; (5) Special education teacher; (6) Pre-school teacher or accredited day care center worker; (7) Kindergarten to 4th grade school teacher; (8) School teacher, 5th grade and up; Social worker; (10) Police or private investigator. Section 8. Duties of the Members. The Members shall serve as investigators and advisors to the Advocate to diligently and efficiently aid in all functions required to the duties of the Office, pursuant to Section 6 of this Act and Section 17 of the Family Preservation Act, subject to the provisions of applicable statutes, except as provided otherwise, herein. Section 9. Purpose of the Office. The Advocate shall seek to enforce the provisions of the Family Preservation Act of 2006 in an effective, appropriate, efficient and timely manner. Section 10. Powers of the Advocate. The Advocate may: (a) Investigate, review, monitor and/or evaluate any Commonwealth agency and/or family court, pursuant to enforcing the provisions of the Family Preservation Act; (b) Inspect and review the operations, policies and procedures of: (1) Children and Youth agencies of the Commonwealth; (2) Foster homes, group homes, residential treatment facilities, shelters for the care of children in state custody or in any shelter for the care of juveniles operated by agencies of the Commonwealth or state funded private entities approved by the Commonwealth; (c) Review, evaluate, report on and make recommendations concerning the educational and training background requirements for any and all positions of employment in the Children and Youth agencies of the Commonwealth; (d) Review, monitor, evaluate, report on and make recommendations concerning the procedures established by any agency of the Commonwealth providing services to children who are in state or institutional custody or children who receive child protective or permanency services by conducting research audits or other studies of case records, policies, procedures and protocols, as deemed necessary by the Advocate to assess the performance of the agency or institution; (e) Review, monitor, evaluate and report on the performance of state funded private entities charged with the care and supervision of children in state custody by conducting research audits or other studies of case records, policies, procedures and protocols, as deemed necessary by the Advocate to assess the performance of the entities; (f) Review, monitor, evaluate and report on the performance of any court in the Commonwealth in any hearing or hearings for the purpose of determining temporary or permanent custody of a child or to determine if a child has been deprived, neglected or otherwise placed at risk of physical, mental and/or emotional damage; (g) Receive, investigate and make referrals to the Attorney General of the Commonwealth or other agencies or take other appropriate actions with respect to a complaint received by the Office regarding the actions of a state, county or municipal agency or a state funded private entity providing services to children who are in state or institutional custody or children who receive child protective or permanency services; (h) Hold a public hearing on the subject of an investigation or study underway by the Office, and receive testimony from agency or program representatives, the public and other interested parties, as the Advocate deems appropriate; (i) Establish and maintain a 24-hour toll-free telephone hotline to receive and respond to calls from citizens referring problems to the Office, both individual and systematic, pursuant to statutory children’s and other citizen’s rights, including but not limited to the provisions of this Act; and (j) Establish and maintain an internet website that provides the public with any information deemed helpful and appropriate to the citizens, including hotline and non-hotline telephone numbers, e-mail and mailing addresses and any other relevant contact information and past and current relevant and key news activity pursuant to the Office. Section 11. Provisions of findings, recommendations. (a) If the Advocate identifies a systematic problem in how the Commonwealth, through its agencies or contract services, violates or risks violating the rights of children and/or family members and/or other citizens, including but not limited to the provisions of this Act, the Advocate shall provide its findings and recommendations to the agency, agencies or contractual entity affected by the findings and recommendations, and, except as provided in (last section), make those findings and recommendations available to the public. (b) If the Advocate identifies a systematic problem in how a court or a judge conducts judicial procedures in hearings pursuant to the temporary or permanent custody of a child or for the purpose of determining if a child is or has been deprived, neglected or otherwise placed at risk of physical, mental and/or emotional damage, the Advocate may submit those findings and make recommendations to the Court of Judicial Discipline of the Commonwealth and/or submit those findings and make recommendations to the Legislature of the Commonwealth pursuant to impeachment of a judge. (c) Pursuant to subsection (a), the agency, agencies or contractual entity, shall have 30 days from the receipt of the findings and recommendations to develop a corrective action plan and submit the plan to the appropriate supervisory entity for implementation. The Advocate shall monitor the implementation of the plan, and if the supervisory entity and/or the entity affected, fails to promptly implement the plan, the Advocate shall take such action and remedies available as the Advocate deems necessary. Section 12. Additional powers of the Advocate. In addition to powers granted in Section 10 of this Act, the Advocate may: (a) Intervene in or institute litigation, or (b) Intervene in or institute administrative proceedings before any department, commission, agency or state board, to assert the broad public interest of the Commonwealth in protecting and promoting the rights of children, members of their family and all other citizens. Section 13. Annual report to Governor, Legislature, the People. The Advocate shall report annually to the Governor, the Legislature and the People on: (a) The activities of the Office; (b) Priorities for children’s services that have been identified; (c) Recommendations for improvement, needed changes and/or programs concerning the provisions of services to children who are in state or institutional custody or receive child protective or permanency services by state agencies and state funded private entities. Section 14. Impeachment of the Advocate. Only the Legislature of the Commonwealth may have the power to impeach the Advocate. Section 15. This Act shall take effect on or before the ninetieth (90th) day from the effective date of the Family Preservation Act of 2006. Section 16. A special election shall be held to elect the Advocate on or before the thirtieth (30th) day from the effective date of this Act. © 2006 We The People

The Family Preservation Act

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The Family Advocate Act

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No bond is more precious and none should be more zealously protected by the law as the bond between parent and child. Carson v Elrod 411 F Supp 645, 649, DC E.D. VA (1976)