237.18 Duties of state board.

The state board shall:

1. Review the activities and actions of local boards.

2. Adopt rules pursuant to chapter 17A to:

a. Establish a recordkeeping system for the files of local review boards including individual case reviews.

b. Accumulate data and develop an annual report regarding children in foster care. The report shall include:

(1) Personal data regarding the total number of days of foster care provided and the characteristics of the children receiving foster care.

(2) The number of placements of children in foster care.

(3) The frequency and results of court reviews.

c. Evaluate the judicial and administrative data collected on foster care and disseminate the data to the governor, the supreme court, the chief judge of each judicial district, the department, and child-placing agencies.

d. Establish mandatory training programs for members of the state and local review boards including an initial training program and periodic in-service training programs. Training shall focus on, but not be limited to, the following:

(1) The history, philosophy and role of the juvenile court in the child protection system.

(2) Juvenile court procedures under the juvenile justice act.

(3) The foster care administrative review process of the department of human services.

(4) The role and procedures of the citizen’s foster care review system.

(5) The Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980, Pub. L. No. 96-272.

(6) The purpose of case permanency plans, and the type of information that will be available in those plans.

(7) The situations where the goals of either reuniting the child with the child’s family or adoption would be appropriate.

(8) The legal processes that may lead to foster care placement.

(9) The types and number of children involved in those legal processes.

(10) The types of foster care placement available, with emphasis on the types and number of facilities available on a regional basis.

(11) The impact of specific physical or mental conditions of a child on the type of placement most appropriate and the kind of progress that should be expected in those situations.

e. Establish procedures for the local review board consistent with the provisions of section 237.20.

f. Establish grounds and procedures for removal of a local review board member.

g. Establish procedures and protocols for administering the court appointed special advocate program in accordance with subsection 7.

3. Assign the cases of children receiving foster care to the appropriate local boards.

4. Assist local boards in reviewing cases of children receiving foster care, as provided in section 237.20.

5. Employ appropriate staff in accordance with available funding. The board shall coordinate with the department of inspections and appeals regarding administrative functions of the board.

6. In conjunction with the legislative services agency and in consultation with the department of human services, supreme court, and private foster care providers, develop and maintain an evaluation program regarding citizen foster care review programming. The evaluation program shall be designed to evaluate the effectiveness of citizen reviews in improving case permanency planning and meeting case permanency planning goals, identify the amount of time children spend in foster care placements, and identify problem issues in the foster care system. The state board shall submit an annual evaluation report to the governor and the general assembly.

7. Administer the court appointed special advocate program, including but not limited to performance of all of the following:

a. Establish standards for the program, including but not limited to standards for selection and screening of volunteers, preservice training, ongoing education, and assignment and supervision of volunteers. Identifying information concerning a court appointed special advocate, other than the advocate’s name, shall not be considered to be a public record under chapter 22.

b. Implement the court appointed special advocate program in additional areas of the state.

c. Promote adherence to the national guidelines for state and local court appointed special advocate programs.

d. Issue an annual report of the court appointed special advocate program for submission to the general assembly, the governor, and the supreme court.

e. Employ appropriate court appointed special advocate program staff in accordance with available funding. The state board shall coordinate with the department of inspections and appeals the performance of the administrative functions of the state board.

8. Receive gifts, grants, or donations made for any of the purposes of the state board’s programs and disburse and administer the funds received in accordance with the terms of the donor and under the direction of program staff. The funds received shall be used according to any restrictions attached to the funds and any unrestricted funds shall be retained and applied to the applicable program budget for the next succeeding fiscal year.

9. Make recommendations to the general assembly, the department, to child-placing agencies, the governor, the supreme court, the chief judge of each judicial district, and to the judicial branch. The recommendations shall include but are not limited to identification of systemic problems in the foster care and the juvenile justice systems, specific proposals for improvements that assist the systems in being more cost-effective and better able to protect the best interests of children, and necessary changes relating to the data collected and the annual report made under subsection 2, paragraph “b”.

84 Acts, ch 1279, §29; 88 Acts, ch 1233, §5 – 8; 92 Acts, ch 1141, §7; 92 Acts, ch 1242, §28; 98 Acts, ch 1047, §26; 2002 Acts, ch 1162, §23, 24; 2003 Acts, ch 35, §45, 49; 2009 Acts, ch 41, §98; 2009 Acts, ch 181, §113