Bill Text: IL HJR0017 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Designates Illinois Route 150 from Galesburg Main Street to the intersection of U.S. Route 150 and Illinois Route 17 in Alpha as the "Deputy Sheriff Nick Weist Memorial Highway".

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 6-2)

Status: (Passed) 2023-05-19 - Added as Alternate Chief Co-Sponsor Sen. Neil Anderson [HJR0017 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-HJR0017-Introduced.html

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HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The Family First Prevention Services Act was
signed into law as part of the Bipartisan Budget act on
February 9, 2018; and
WHEREAS, Young people involved in the child welfare system
do best in families, in a safe and stable environment that
supports their long-term well-being, according to research;
the passage of Family First took a large step toward this
vision by restructuring how the federal government spends
money on child welfare to ensure that more children in foster
care are placed with families; the law also provides more
support for critical services, such as mental health and
substance abuse treatment, in-home training, and family
therapy that can help prevent the need for foster care in the
first place; and
WHEREAS, The law provides an opportunity for positive
change and supports ongoing efforts to transform our child
welfare system by keeping children and teens safely with their
own family and to avoid the often-traumatizing experience of
unnecessary placement into the foster care system; its name
reflects the elements of the legislation, a family first for
children and teens with prevention services to keep kids safe
and able to reach maturity in their family; prevention

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services, including in-home, skills-based training for
parents, mental health care, including family therapy, and
substance abuse and treatment programs are important parts of
Family First; when the courts determine that children need to
enter foster care, Family First specifically calls for them to
be placed in the least restrictive, most family-like setting
to meet their individual needs; the law recognizes that
treatment programs can provide short-term, customized
therapeutic support while kids are living in families; this
could be with birth parents, other relatives, close friends,
or foster caregivers; residential treatment may be needed for
short-term stabilization, usually less than 90 days, with
follow-up services when children return to their family;
federally-reimbursed services are meant to support and
strengthen families, so children don't enter care; they are
also meant to maintain child and family connections when
children enter foster care or require short-term residential
treatment, and they provide six months of aftercare when a
child has transitioned home from either setting; the focus is
on helping children and families live and grow together safely
and successfully; and
WHEREAS, This Act reforms the federal child welfare
financing streams, Title IV-E and Title IV-B of the Social
Security Act, to provide services to families who are at risk
of entering the child welfare system; and

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WHEREAS, This Act aims to prevent children from entering
foster care by allowing federal reimbursement for mental
health services, substance use treatment, and in-home
parenting skill training; it also seeks to improve the
well-being of children already in foster care by motivating
states to reduce placement of children in congregate care; and
WHEREAS, With an approved Title IV-E plan, the State would
have the option to use Title IV-E funds to prevent the
placement of children and youth into the foster care system
and to provide up to 12 months of mental health services,
substance abuse treatment, and in-home parenting training to
families at risk of entry into the child welfare system;
additionally, the State could use Title IV-E reimbursement for
up to 12 months for a child who has been placed with a parent
in a licensed residential family-based treatment facility for
substance abuse, regardless of whether the child meets the
AFDC income-eligibility requirement for Title IV-E; and
WHEREAS, A competitive grant for recruitment and retention
of high-quality foster families is provided and made available
through 2022; parameters for states to expand funding
eligibility for youth "aging out" of foster care are provided;
and

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WHEREAS, Decreasing the number of children newly enrolled
in the foster care system by providing federally-reimbursable
services to families at risk of entering the child welfare
system will benefit the State of Illinois; therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE
SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that we urge the State to support
the Family First Prevention Services Act to help decrease the
number of children who are entered into foster care; and be it
further
RESOLVED, That we call on the State to restore funding for
family intake and add more funding for family reunification
and restore college scholarships for all the wards of the
State who express a desire to further their education and
attend college; and be it further
RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
delivered to the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family
Services, the Illinois Department of Human Services, and the
Illinois Student Assistance Commission.