Relating to mental health and disability services provided by the state and judicial procedures relating to child in need of assistance proceedings, adoptions, and the confinement of persons found incompetent to stand trial

The bill designates the state mental health institute located in Independence, Iowa, for specialized treatment of behaviorally complex youth, and designates the state mental health institute located in Cherokee, Iowa, for specialized treatment and security of adults ordered by the court into the custody of the state for the purposes of competency restoration, adults who have been acquitted of a crime by reason of insanity, and similarly situated adults. DIVISION II —— CHILD IN NEED OF ASSISTANCE —— SAFETY PLANS —— TEMPORARY REMOVAL. The bill allows, in a child in need of assistance proceeding, a child’s guardian to enter into a safety plan, and prohibits a safety plan from being construed as a child’s removal from a guardian absent a court order placing the child with a person or facility other than the guardian who entered into the safety plan.95(2)(a) relating to hearings concerning the temporary removal of a child in child in need of assistance cases.102(10) relating to transfer of legal custody of a child in a child in need of assistance case for placement and visitation of the child by the child’s grandparents, great-grandparents, and certain other adult relatives. DIVISION III —— MENTAL HEALTH AND DISABILITY SERVICES REGIONS —— GOVERNANCE —— CORE SERVICES —— REPORT. The bill makes changes to the regional governance of mental health and disability services (MHDS) governing boards. The bill allows each member of an MHDS governing board to have a vote, limits the number of representatives county boards of supervisors may have on an MHDS regional governing board to percent of the total governing board membership, and adds a member representing law enforcement and a member representing the judicial system in an MHDS region as representatives on an MHDS governing board. The bill adds outpatient competency restoration as a core service for both adult and children’s MHDS regions. The bill requires the department of health and human services (HHS) to deliver a report on an annual basis to the general assembly that provides a summary of the status of implementing core services in each region, the accessibility of core services in each region, how each region is using the funding provided to MHDS regions, and recommendations for improvements to the MHDS system in order to attain the outcome improvement goals set by HHS. Under current law, HHS is required to give such a report on a quarterly basis. DIVISION IV —— ADOPTION NOTICES —— HEARINGS. The bill requires an adoption petitioner to provide a copy of the order setting the adoption hearing to siblings of a person to be adopted at least days prior to the adoption hearing when there is either an existing relationship or a court finding that ongoing contact with the person to be adopted is in the best interests of each sibling and the person to be adopted was a minor child when the parents of the person to be adopted had their parental rights terminated subsequent to the person to be adopted having been adjudicated a child in need of assistance. The bill allows a copy of the order setting the adoption hearing to be provided to a sibling via ordinary mail if the sibling’s address is known. A copy of an order setting an adoption hearing sent to a sibling under years of age shall be addressed to the sibling’s custodian or guardian. The bill does not require a copy of the order setting the adoption hearing to be provided to a person whose parental rights have been terminated with regard to the person to be adopted; siblings who are placed with the sibling to be adopted at the time the court issued the order setting the adoption hearing; or a previously adopted sibling, unless the siblings were the subjects of child in need of assistance or termination of parental rights proceedings that occurred at the same time. DIVISION V —— CONFINEMENT OF PERSONS FOUND INCOMPETENT TO STAND TRIAL. The bill requires the MHDS region for the county of a defendant’s residency to pay for the costs of mental health treatment the defendant receives as a condition of pretrial release. The bill allows a psychiatrist or licensed doctorate-level psychologist evaluating the progress of a defendant’s outpatient competency restoration treatment, or the director of the facility where the defendant is being held and treated pursuant to a court order, to provide a written status report to the court regarding the defendant’s mental disorder. Under current law, only the psychiatrist or licensed doctorate level psychologist providing the defendant’s treatment or the director of the facility where the defendant is being held and treated can provide the written status report. The bill requires a written status report prepared for an incompetent defendant to include the methods used to restore competency to the defendant, the defendant’s current abilities related to competency, and whether it appears the defendant’s competency can be restored within a reasonable amount of time. The bill requires a psychiatrist, psychologist, or director to submit an initial report to the court no later than days after the defendant’s placement by the court for treatment, and subsequent reports every days or less after submission of the initial report until the defendant’s competency is restored or the placement of the defendant is terminated. The bill requires a psychiatrist or licensed doctorate-level psychologist evaluating the progress of a defendant’s outpatient competency restoration treatment, or the director of the facility where the defendant is being held and treated pursuant to a court order, to notify a court if there is a substantial probability or is no substantial probability that a defendant formerly deemed incompetent either has acquired the ability to appreciate the charge against the defendant, understand the proceedings, and effectively assist in the defendant’s defense or will be restored to competency in a reasonable amount of time. Under current law, only the psychiatrist or licensed doctorate-level psychologist providing the defendant’s treatment or the director of the facility where the defendant is being held and treated could provide such notice to a court. DIVISION VI —— CONFORMING CODE CHANGE.25 (therapeutic classroom incentive grant program —— fund). DIVISION VII —— CODE TRANSFERS.69 and directs the Code editor to make conforming changes.