705 ILCODE 405/1-5 ILLINOIS COMPILED STATUTES *** THIS SECTION IS CURRENT THROUGH PUBLIC ACT 93-1064 *** CHAPTER 705. COURTS JUDICIARY JUVENILE COURT ACT OF 1987 ARTICLE I. GENERAL PROVISIONS GO TO THE CODE ARCHIVE DIRECTORY FOR THIS JURISDICTION 705 ILCS 405/1-5 (2004) § 705 ILCS 405/1-5. Rights of parties to proceedings Sec. 1-5. Rights of parties to proceedings. (1) Except as provided in this Section and paragraph (2) of Sections 2-22, 3-23, 4-20, 5-610 or 5-705 [705 ILCS 405/2-22, 705 ILCS 405/3-23, 705 ILCS 405/4-20, 705 ILCS 405/5-610 or 705 ILCS 405/5-705], the minor who is the subject of the proceeding and his parents, guardian, legal custodian or responsible relative who are parties respondent have the right to be present, to be heard, to present evidence material to the proceedings, to cross-examine witnesses, to examine pertinent court files and records and also, although proceedings under this Act are not intended to be adversary in character, the right to be represented by counsel. At the request of any party financially unable to employ counsel, with the exception of a foster parent permitted to intervene under this Section, the court shall appoint the Public Defender or such other counsel as the case may require. Counsel appointed for the minor and any indigent party shall appear at all stages of the trial court proceeding, and such appointment shall continue through the permanency hearings and termination of parental rights proceedings subject to withdrawal or substitution pursuant to Supreme Court Rules or the Code of Civil Procedure [735 ILCS 5/1-101 et seq.]. Following the dispositional hearing, the court may require appointed counsel, other than counsel for the minor or counsel for the guardian ad litem, to withdraw his or her appearance upon failure of the party for whom counsel was appointed under this Section to attend any subsequent proceedings. No hearing on any petition or motion filed under this Act may be commenced unless the minor who is the subject of the proceeding is represented by counsel. Notwithstanding the preceding sentence, if a guardian ad litem has been appointed for the minor under Section 2-17 of this Act and the guardian ad litem is a licensed attorney at law of this State, or in the event that a court appointed special advocate has been appointed as guardian ad litem and counsel has been appointed to represent the court appointed special advocate, the court may not require the appointment of counsel to represent the minor unless the court finds that the minor's interests are in conflict with what the guardian ad litem determines to be in the best interest of the minor. Each adult respondent shall be furnished a written "Notice of Rights" at or before the first hearing at which he or she appears. (1.5) The Department shall maintain a system of response to inquiry made by parents or putative parents as to whether their child is under the custody or guardianship of the Department; and if so, the Department shall direct the parents or putative parents to the appropriate court of jurisdiction, including where inquiry may be made of the clerk of the court regarding the case number and the next scheduled court date of the minor's case. Effective notice and the means of accessing information shall be given tothe public on a continuing basis by the Department. (2)(a) Though not appointed guardian or legal custodian or otherwise made a party to the proceeding, any current or previously appointed foster parent or relative caregiver, or representative of an agency or association interested in the minor has the right to be heard by the court, but does not thereby become a party to the proceeding. In addition to the foregoing right to be heard by the court, any current foster parent or relative caregiver of a minor and the agency designated by the court or the Department of Children and Family Services as custodian of the minor who is alleged to be or has been adjudicated an abused or neglected minor under Section 2-3 [705 ILCS 405/2-3] or a dependent minor under Section 2-4 of this Act [705 ILCS 405/2-4] has the right to and shall be given adequate notice at all stages of any hearing or proceeding under this Act. Any foster parent or relative caregiver who is denied his or her right to be heard under this Section may bring a mandamus action under Article XIV of the Code of Civil Procedure [735 ILCS 5/14-101 et seq.] against the court or any public agency to enforce that right. The mandamus action may be brought immediately upon the denial of those rights but in no event later than 30 days after the foster parent has been denied the right to be heard. (b) If after an adjudication that a minor is abused or neglected as provided under Section 2-21 [705 ILCS 405/2-21] of this Act and a motion has been made to restore the minor to any parent, guardian, or legal custodian found by the court to have caused the neglect or to have inflicted the abuse on the minor, a foster parent may file a motion to intervene in the proceeding for the sole purpose of requesting that the minor be placed with the foster parent, provided that the foster parent (i) is the current foster parent of the minor or (ii) has previously been a foster parent for the minor for one year or more, has a foster care license or is eligible for a license, and is not the subject of any findings of abuse or neglect of any child. The juvenile court may only enter orders placing a minor with a specific foster parent under this subsection (2)(b) and nothing in this Section shall be construed to confer any jurisdiction or authority on the juvenile court to issue any other orders requiring the appointed guardian or custodian of a minor to place the minor in a designated foster home or facility. This Section is not intended to encompass any matters that are within the scope or determinable under the administrative and appeal process established by rules of the Department of Children and Family Services under Section 5(o) of the Children and Family Services Act [20 ILCS 505/5]. Nothing in this Section shall relieve the court of its responsibility, under Section 2-14(a) of this Act [705 ILCS 405/2-14] to act in a just and speedy manner to reunify families where it is the best interests of the minor and the child can be cared for at home without endangering the child's health or safety and, if reunification is not in the best interests of the minor, to find another permanent home for the minor.