48.07 Additional sources of court services. If the county board of supervisors has complied with s. 48.06, the court may obtain supplementary services for investigating cases and providing supervision of cases from one or more of the following sources:

(2) Licensed child welfare agency. The court may request the services of a child welfare agency licensed under s. 48.60 in accordance with procedures established by that agency. The child welfare agency shall receive no compensation for these services but may be reimbursed out of funds made available to the court for the actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of duties for the court.

(3) The department in populous counties. In counties having a population of 750,000 or more, the department may be ordered by the court to provide services for furnishing emergency shelter care to any child whose need therefor is determined by the intake worker under s. 48.205. The court may authorize the department to appoint members of the department to furnish emergency shelter care services for the child. The emergency shelter care may be provided as specified in s. 48.207.

(4) County departments that provide developmental disabilities, mental health or alcohol and other drug abuse services. Within the limits of available state and federal funds and of county funds appropriated to match state funds, the court may order county departments established under s. 51.42 or 51.437 to provide special treatment or care to a child if special treatment or care has been ordered under s. 48.345 (6) and if s. 48.362 (4) applies or to provide special treatment or care to the expectant mother of an unborn child if special treatment or care has been ordered under s. 48.347 (4) and if s. 48.362 (4) applies.

(5) Court-appointed special advocate program.

(a) Memorandum of understanding. The court may obtain the services of a court-appointed special advocate program that has been recognized by the chief judge of the judicial administrative district. A chief judge of a judicial administrative district may recognize a court-appointed special advocate program by entering into a memorandum of understanding with the court-appointed special advocate program that specifies the responsibilities of the court-appointed special advocate program and of a court-appointed special advocate designated under s. 48.236 (1). The memorandum of understanding shall specify that the court-appointed special advocate program is responsible for selecting, training, supervising and evaluating the volunteers and employees of the program who are authorized to provide court-appointed special advocate services as provided in pars. (b) to (d), that, in addition to any other activities specified in the memorandum of understanding, a volunteer or employee of the program who is authorized to provide court-appointed special advocate services may be designated to perform any of the activities specified in s. 48.236 (3) (a) to (c) and that, in addition to any other authority specified in the memorandum of understanding, a volunteer or employee of the program who is authorized to provide court-appointed special advocate services may be authorized to exercise any of the authority specified in s. 48.236 (4) (a) and (b), unless the parties to the memorandum of understanding determine that a variance from the requirements of pars. (b) to (d), the activities specified in s. 48.236 (3) (a) to (c) or the authority specified in s. 48.236 (4) (a) and (b) is necessary for the efficient administration of the program.

(b) Selection.

1. A court-appointed special advocate program may select a person to provide court-appointed special advocate services if the person is 21 years of age or older, demonstrates an interest in the welfare of children, undergoes a satisfactory background investigation as provided under subd. 2., completes the training required under par. (c) and meets any other qualifications required by the court-appointed special advocate program. A court-appointed special advocate program may refuse to permit to provide court-appointed special advocate services any person whose provision of those services might pose a risk, as determined by the court-appointed special advocate program, to the safety of any child.

2. On receipt of an application from a prospective court-appointed special advocate, the court-appointed special advocate program, with the assistance of the department of justice, shall conduct a background investigation of the applicant. If the court-appointed special advocate program determines that any information obtained as a result of the background investigation provides a reasonable basis for further investigation, the court-appointed special advocate program may require the applicant to be fingerprinted on 2 fingerprint cards, each bearing a complete set of the applicant's fingerprints, or by other technologies approved by law enforcement agencies. The department of justice may provide for the submission of the fingerprint cards or fingerprints by other technologies to the federal bureau of investigation for the purposes of verifying the identification of the applicant and obtaining the applicant's criminal arrest and conviction record. The court-appointed special advocate program shall keep confidential all information received from the department of justice and the federal bureau of investigation under this subdivision.

(c) Training. A court-appointed special advocate program shall require a volunteer or employee of the program selected under par. (b) to complete a training program before the volunteer or employee may be designated as a court-appointed special advocate under s. 48.236 (1). The training program shall include instruction on recognizing child abuse and neglect, cultural competency, as defined in s. 48.982 (1) (bm), child development, the procedures of the court, permanency planning, the activities of a court-appointed special advocate under s. 48.236 (3) and information gathering and documentation, and shall include observation of a proceeding under s. 48.13. A court-appointed special advocate program shall also require each volunteer and employee of the program selected under par. (b) to complete continuing training annually.

(d) Supervision and evaluation. The supervisory support staff of a court-appointed special advocate program shall be easily accessible to the volunteers and employees of the program who are authorized to provide court-appointed special advocate services, shall hold regular case conferences with those volunteers and employees to review case progress and shall conduct annual performance evaluations of those volunteers and employees. A court-appointed special advocate program shall provide its staff and volunteers with written guidelines describing the policies, practices and procedures of the program and the responsibilities of a volunteer or employee of the program who is authorized to provide court-appointed special advocate services.

History: 1975 c. 39; 1977 c. 271, 354, 447; 1979 c. 34; 1981 c. 314 s. 146; 1983 a. 27 s. 2202 (20); 1985 a. 176; 1989 a. 31, 107; 1993 a. 446; 1995 a. 27, 77; 1997 a. 27, 292; 1999 a. 149; 2013 a. 20; 2015 a. 172.