The Department shall develop a continuous inservice staff development program and evaluation system. Each child protective investigator and supervisor and child welfare specialist and supervisor shall participate in such program and evaluation and shall complete a minimum of 20 hours of inservice education and training every 2 years in order to maintain certification.
Any child protective investigator or child protective supervisor, or child welfare specialist or child welfare specialist supervisor hired by the Department who begins actual employment after January 1, 1988 (the effective date of Public Act 85-206) , shall be certified pursuant to the Child Protective Investigator and Child Welfare Specialist Certification Act of 1987 before beginning such employment. Nothing in this Act shall replace or diminish the rights of employees under the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act, as amended, or the National Labor Relations Act. In the event of any conflict between either of those Acts, or any collective bargaining agreement negotiated thereunder, and the provisions of subsections (d) and (e), the former shall prevail and control.
All child protective investigators and supervisors and child welfare specialists and supervisors employed by the Department or its contractors shall be required, subsequent to the availability of training under this Act, to demonstrate proficiency in application of the safety-based child welfare intervention system previous to being permitted to make safety decisions about the children for whom they are responsible. The Department shall establish a multi-disciplinary advisory committee appointed by the Director, including, but not limited to, representatives from the fields of child development, domestic violence, family systems, juvenile justice, law enforcement, health care, mental health, substance abuse, and social service to advise the Department and its related contractors in the development and implementation of the safety-based child welfare intervention system, related training, method for demonstration of proficiency in application of the safety-based child welfare intervention system, and evaluation of the reliability and validity of the safety-based child welfare intervention system. The Department shall develop the safety-based child welfare intervention system, training curriculum, method for demonstration of proficiency in application of the safety-based child welfare intervention system, and method for evaluation of the reliability and validity of the safety-based child welfare intervention system. Training and demonstration of proficiency in application of the safety-based child welfare intervention system for all child protective investigators and supervisors and child welfare specialists and supervisors shall be completed as soon as practicable. The Department shall submit to the General Assembly on or before December 31, 2026, and every year thereafter, an annual report on the evaluation of the reliability and validity of the safety-based child welfare intervention system. The Department shall contract with a not-for-profit organization with demonstrated expertise in the field of safety-based child welfare intervention to assist in the development and implementation of the safety-based child welfare intervention system, related training, method for demonstration of proficiency in application of the safety-based child welfare intervention system, and evaluation of the reliability and validity of the safety-based child welfare intervention system.
20 ILCS 505/21