Bill Text: IL HB2365 | 2009-2010 | 96th General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Creates the Kinship Navigator Act. Defines "kinship care" as the full time care, nurturing, and protection of children by relatives, members of their tribes or clans, grandparents, godparents, stepparents, or any adult who has physical custody and a kinship bond with a child. This definition is designed to be inclusive without age restrictions on the kinship caregiver and respectful of cultural values and ties of affection. It allows a child to grow to adulthood in a family environment. Establishes a program, to be administered through a grant to a not-for-profit organization, to serve as liaison among State agencies and groups, to promote kinship care through conferences, and to provide the following services: organizing diverse, enriched, and culturally conscious kinship support groups and counseling; assisting with applying for benefits within the Family Community Resource Centers for those who qualify; publishing monthly newsletters; coordinating respite and crisis care services; assisting kinship caregivers with job readiness, job search, and job retention; and providing technical assistance to start up kinship support groups. Amends the Children and Family Services Act to provide for coordination with the grandparent child care program. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-4)

Status: (Passed) 2009-08-11 - Public Act . . . . . . . . . 96-0276 [HB2365 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2009-HB2365-Introduced.html

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96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2009 and 2010 HB2365 Introduced 2/19/2009, by Rep. Eddie Washington SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
New Act
20 ILCS 505/34.11
Creates the Kinship Navigator Act. Defines "kinship care" as the full time care, nurturing, and protection of children by relatives, members of their tribes or clans, grandparents, godparents, stepparents, or any adult who has physical custody and a kinship bond with a child. This definition is designed to be inclusive without age restrictions on the kinship caregiver and respectful of cultural values and ties of affection. It allows a child to grow to adulthood in a family environment. Establishes a program, to be administered through a grant to a not-for-profit organization, to serve as liaison among State agencies and groups, to promote kinship care through conferences, and to provide the following services: organizing diverse, enriched, and culturally conscious kinship support groups and counseling; assisting with applying for benefits within the Family Community Resource Centers for those who qualify; publishing monthly newsletters; coordinating respite and crisis care services; assisting kinship caregivers with job readiness, job search, and job retention; and providing technical assistance to start up kinship support groups. Amends the Children and Family Services Act to provide for coordination with the grandparent child care program. Effective immediately.
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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY
A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning children.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the
Kinship Navigator Act.
Section 5. Definitions. In this Act:
(1) "Department" means the Department of Human
Services.
(2) "NPO" means a not-for-profit organization.
(3) "Municipality" has the meaning ascribed to it in
Section 1-1-2 of the Illinois Municipal Code.
(4) "Kinship care" means, as defined by Child Welfare
League of America, the full time care, nurturing, and
protection of children by relatives, members of their
tribes or clans, grandparents, godparents, stepparents, or
any adult who has physical custody and a kinship bond with
a child. This definition is designed to be inclusive
without age restrictions on the kinship caregiver and
respectful of cultural values and ties of affection. It
allows a child to grow to adulthood in a family
environment.
(5) "Kinship Navigator" means a statewide program
designed to ensure kinship caregivers the necessary

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resources for the preservation of the family.
Section 10. Legislative findings and intent.
(1) Kinship caregivers often care for non-biological
children without compensation or support systems.
(2) Kinship caregivers are crucial to avoiding
institutionalization of children and saving taxpayer
dollars.
(3) Kinship caregivers are frequently under
substantial physical, psychological, and financial stress.
Unrelieved by support services available to the caregiver,
this stress may lead to premature or unnecessary
institutionalization for the care recipient or
deterioration of the health condition and family
circumstances of the kinship caregiver.
(4) Sudden responsibility for children often precludes
kinship caregivers the opportunity to plan basic day to day
responsibility.
(5) The Kinship Navigator shall establish itself to be
seamless and statewide through an NPO serving as the
liaison among the Department of Human Services, Illinois
Housing Authority, Department of Children and Family
Services, Department of Corrections, and federal and local
governments as well as other public and private sources.
(6) Additional services provided under the Kinship
Navigator shall be: organizing diverse, enriched, and

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culturally conscious kinship support groups and
counseling; assisting with applying for benefits within
the Family Community Resource Centers for those who
qualify; publishing monthly newsletters; coordinating
respite and crisis care services; assisting kinship
caregivers with job readiness, job search, and job
retention; and providing technical assistance to start up
kinship support groups.
Section 15. Kinship Navigator conferences: promotion. The
Department shall annually hold 2 conferences, one in Cook
County and one in Sangamon County, and provide for exhibits and
activities for kinship caregivers and social service
providers.
Section 20. Kinship Navigator administration. The
Department, subject to appropriation, shall administer Kinship
Navigator through grants to an NPO that has worked statewide
with kinship families. The Department shall coordinate the
program created by this Act with the grandparent child care
program administered by the Department of Children and Family
Services under Section 34.11 of the Children and Family
Services Act.
Section 25. Rules. The Department shall adopt the rules
necessary for the implementation and administration of this

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Act.
Section 90. The Children and Family Services Act is amended
by changing Section 34.11 as follows:
(20 ILCS 505/34.11)
Sec. 34.11. Grandparent child care program.
(a) The General Assembly finds and declares the following:
(1) An increasing number of children under the age of
18, including many children who would otherwise be at risk
of abuse or neglect, are in the care of a grandparent or
other nonparent relative.
(2) The principal causes of this increase include
parental substance abuse, child abuse, mental illness,
poverty, and death, as well as concerted efforts by
families and by the child welfare service system to keep
children with relatives whenever possible.
(3) Grandparents and older relatives providing primary
care for at-risk children may experience unique resultant
problems, such as financial stress due to limited incomes,
emotional difficulties dealing with the loss of the child's
parents or the child's unique behaviors, and decreased
physical stamina coupled with a much higher incidence of
chronic illness.
(4) Many children being raised by nonparent relatives
experience one or a combination of emotional, behavioral,

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psychological, academic, or medical problems, especially
those born to a substance-abusing mother or at risk of
child abuse, neglect, or abandonment.
(5) Grandparents and other relatives providing primary
care for children lack appropriate information about the
issues of kinship care, the special needs (both physical
and psychological) of children born to a substance-abusing
mother or at risk of child abuse, neglect, or abandonment,
and the support resources currently available to them.
(b) The Department may establish an informational and
educational program for grandparents and other relatives who
provide primary care for children who are at risk of child
abuse, neglect, or abandonment or who were born to
substance-abusing mothers. As a part of the program, the
Department may develop, publish, and distribute an
informational brochure for grandparents and other relatives
who provide primary care for children who are at risk of child
abuse, neglect, or abandonment or who were born to
substance-abusing mothers. The information provided under the
program authorized by this Section may include, but is not
limited to the following:
(1) The most prevalent causes of kinship care,
especially the risk of substance exposure or child abuse,
neglect, or abandonment.
(2) The problems experienced by children being raised
by nonparent caregivers.

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(3) The problems experienced by grandparents and other
nonparent relatives providing primary care for children
who have special needs.
(4) The legal system as it relates to children and
their nonparent primary caregivers.
(5) The benefits available to children and their
nonparent primary caregivers.
(6) A list of support groups and resources located
throughout the State.
The brochure may be distributed through hospitals, public
health nurses, child protective services, medical professional
offices, elementary and secondary schools, senior citizen
centers, public libraries, community action agencies selected
by the Department, and the Department of Human Services.
The Department shall coordinate the grandparent child care
program under this Section with the program established and
administered by the Department of Human Services under the
Kinship Navigator Act.
(Source: P.A. 88-229; 88-670, eff. 12-2-94; 89-507, eff.
7-1-97.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.