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Session of 1999
          SENATE BILL No. 125           By Committee on Judiciary           1-25          

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  9             AN  ACT concerning domestic relations; relating to divorce; child place-
10             ment investigator's report, dissemination; amending K.S.A. 60-1615
11             and repealing the existing section.
12      
13       Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
14             Section  1. K.S.A. 60-1615 is hereby amended to read as follows: 60-
15       1615. (a) Investigation and report. In contested custody proceedings, the
16       court may order an investigation and report concerning custodial arrange-
17       ments for the child. The investigation and report may be made by court
18       services officers or any consenting person or agency employed by the
19       court for that purpose. The court may use the department of social and
20       rehabilitation services to make the investigation and report if no other
21       source is available for that purpose. The costs for making the investigation
22       and report may be assessed as court costs in the case as provided in article
23       20 of chapter 60 of the Kansas Statutes Annotated, and amendments
24       thereto.
25             (b) Consultation. In preparing the report concerning a child, the in-
26       vestigator may consult any person who may have information about the
27       child and the potential custodial arrangements. Upon order of the court,
28       the investigator may refer the child to professional personnel for diag-
29       nosis. The investigator may consult with and obtain information from
30       medical, psychiatric or other expert persons who have served the child in
31       the past. If the requirements of subsection (c) are fulfilled, the investi-
32       gator's report may be received in evidence at the hearing.
33             (c) Use of report and investigator's testimony. The court shall make
34       the investigator's report available prior to the hearing to counsel or to any
35       party not represented by counsel. Upon motion of either party, the report
36       may be made available to such party unless the court finds that such
37       distribution would be harmful to either party, the child or other witnesses.
38       Any party to the proceeding may call the investigator and any person
39       whom the investigator has consulted for cross-examination. In consider-
40       ation of the mental health or best interests of the child, the court may
41       approve a stipulation that the interview records not be divulged to the
42       parties. 
43       Sec.  2. K.S.A. 60-1615 is hereby repealed.
44        Sec.  3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its
45       publication in the statute book.