1.1                          A bill for an act
  1.2             relating to courts; requesting the state court 
  1.3             administrator to develop guidelines for open hearings 
  1.4             in certain child protection matters. 
  1.5   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.6      Section 1.  [COURT HEARING GUIDELINES.] 
  1.7      (a) The state court administrator is requested to convene a 
  1.8   committee to develop guidelines for holding open juvenile court 
  1.9   hearings on petitions for children in need of protection or 
  1.10  services, reviews of foster care, and termination of parental 
  1.11  rights. 
  1.12     (b) Committee members shall include at least the following: 
  1.13     (1) a judge, a county attorney or assistant county 
  1.14  attorney, and a public defender, each of whom has experience in 
  1.15  juvenile court child protection matters; 
  1.16     (2) two child protection workers, one from a local social 
  1.17  service agency in the metropolitan area and one from a county in 
  1.18  greater Minnesota; 
  1.19     (3) a parent; 
  1.20     (4) a foster parent; and 
  1.21     (5) representatives of advocacy groups interested in the 
  1.22  effect of the child protection system on children, especially on 
  1.23  children of minority races. 
  1.24     (c) In proposing guidelines for open court hearings, the 
  1.25  committee shall be guided by the goals of: 
  2.1      (1) providing accountability for the actions of the courts 
  2.2   and local social service agencies; and 
  2.3      (2) encouraging the development of community standards 
  2.4   about appropriate parenting and appropriate community 
  2.5   interventions in troubled families. 
  2.6      Promotion of these goals must be balanced by concern for 
  2.7   the privacy of the child who is the subject of the court 
  2.8   proceeding.  In particular, to achieve this balance, the 
  2.9   committee shall consider appropriate places for distinguishing 
  2.10  between making a hearing public and making public all evidence 
  2.11  offered at the hearing. 
  2.12     (d) As appropriate, the committee shall prepare its 
  2.13  guidelines in the form of proposed court rules to be adopted by 
  2.14  the supreme court and in the form of any necessary statutory 
  2.15  proposals to be enacted by the legislature.  The state court 
  2.16  administrator shall report to the legislature and supreme court 
  2.17  by February 1, 1997, on the guidelines recommended by the 
  2.18  committee.