HB 1783

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.