HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3441        FILED ON: 1/20/2023

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1487

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Michael J. Finn

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act relative to juvenile court reporting requirements.

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PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 3441        FILED ON: 1/20/2023

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1487

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court
(2023-2024)

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An Act relative to juvenile court reporting requirements.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. Chapter 18C of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2018 official edition, is hereby amended by inserting after section 7, the following section:-

Section 7A. The juvenile court department of the Massachusetts trial court shall provide to the office of the child advocate information regarding key court performance measures in child abuse and neglect cases. Key performance measures shall include, but are not limited to: (i) number of children in court jurisdiction; (ii) number of children with subsequent substantiated or indicated child abuse and/or neglect while under court jurisdiction; (iii) reason for achievement and non-achievement of permanency; (iv) the number of judges per case; (v) percentage of cases in which parties received service of process; (vi) average and median time from filing of the original petition to legal permanency; (vii) the percentage of children reaching permanency within different timeframes or closed within 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months or more; (viii) time to adjudication by type of permanent placement or case closure; (ix) time to first permanency hearing by type of placement or case closure; and (x) time to termination of parental rights to finalized termination of parental rights.

This juvenile court shall report key performance measures in child abuse and neglect cases to the office of the child advocate quarterly. The office of the child advocate may require that data be categorized by age, gender, race, ethnicity, case type, court location, and any combination thereof. The office of the child advocate shall receive reports prepared by the juvenile court’s Court Improvement Program.