Bill Text: IL SR0422 | 2019-2020 | 101st General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Urges support of the Family First Prevention Services Act.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2019-05-31 - Resolution Adopted [SR0422 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2019-SR0422-Introduced.html
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1 | SENATE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, The Family First Prevention Services Act was | ||||||
3 | signed into law as part of the Bipartisan Budget act on | ||||||
4 | February 9, 2018; and
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5 | WHEREAS, Young people involved in the child welfare system | ||||||
6 | do best in families, in a safe and stable environment that | ||||||
7 | supports their long-term well-being, according to research; | ||||||
8 | the passage of Family First took a large step toward this | ||||||
9 | vision by restructuring how the federal government spends money | ||||||
10 | on child welfare to ensure that more children in foster care | ||||||
11 | are placed with families; the law also provides more support | ||||||
12 | for critical services, such as mental health and substance | ||||||
13 | abuse treatment, in-home training, and family therapy that can | ||||||
14 | help prevent the need for foster care in the first place; and
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15 | WHEREAS, The law provides an opportunity for positive | ||||||
16 | change and supports ongoing efforts to transform our child | ||||||
17 | welfare system by keeping children and teens safely with their | ||||||
18 | own family and to avoid the often-traumatizing experience of | ||||||
19 | unnecessary placement into the foster care system; its name | ||||||
20 | reflects the elements of the legislation: a family first for | ||||||
21 | children and teens with prevention services to keep kids safe | ||||||
22 | and growing up in their family; prevention services, including | ||||||
23 | in-home, skills-based training for parents, mental health |
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1 | care, including family therapy, and substance abuse and | ||||||
2 | treatment programs are important parts of Family First; when | ||||||
3 | the courts determine that children need to enter foster care, | ||||||
4 | Family First specifically calls for them to be placed in the | ||||||
5 | least restrictive, most family-like setting to meet their | ||||||
6 | individual needs; the law recognizes that treatment programs | ||||||
7 | can provide short-term, customized therapeutic support while | ||||||
8 | kids are living in families; this could be with birth parents, | ||||||
9 | other relatives, close friends, or foster caregivers; | ||||||
10 | residential treatment may be needed for short-term | ||||||
11 | stabilization, usually less than 90 days, with follow-up | ||||||
12 | services when children return to their family; | ||||||
13 | federally-reimbursed services are meant to support and | ||||||
14 | strengthen families, so children don't enter care; they are | ||||||
15 | also meant to maintain child and family connections when | ||||||
16 | children enter foster care or require short-term residential | ||||||
17 | treatment, and they provide six months of aftercare when a | ||||||
18 | child has transitioned home from either setting; the focus is | ||||||
19 | on helping children and families live and grow together safely | ||||||
20 | and successfully; and
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21 | WHEREAS, This Act reforms the federal child welfare | ||||||
22 | financing streams, Title IV-E and Title IV-B of the Social | ||||||
23 | Security Act, to provide services to families who are at risk | ||||||
24 | of entering the child welfare system; and
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1 | WHEREAS, This Act aims to prevent children from entering | ||||||
2 | foster care by allowing federal reimbursement for mental health | ||||||
3 | services, substance use treatment, and in-home parenting skill | ||||||
4 | training; it also seeks to improve the well-being of children | ||||||
5 | already in foster care by motivating states to reduce placement | ||||||
6 | of children in congregate care; and
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7 | WHEREAS, With an approved Title IV-E plan, the State would | ||||||
8 | have the option to use Title IV-E funds to prevent the | ||||||
9 | placement of children and youth into the foster care system and | ||||||
10 | to provide up to 12 months of mental health services, substance | ||||||
11 | abuse treatment, and in-home parenting training to families at | ||||||
12 | risk of entry into the child welfare system; additionally, the | ||||||
13 | State could use Title IV-E reimbursement for up to 12 months | ||||||
14 | for a child who has been placed with a parent in a licensed | ||||||
15 | residential family-based treatment facility for substance | ||||||
16 | abuse, regardless of whether the child meets the AFDC | ||||||
17 | income-eligibility requirement for Title IV-E; and
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18 | WHEREAS, A competitive grant for recruitment and retention | ||||||
19 | of high-quality foster families is provided and made available | ||||||
20 | through 2022; parameters for states to expand funding | ||||||
21 | eligibility for youth "aging out" of foster care are provided; | ||||||
22 | and
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23 | WHEREAS, Decreasing the number of children newly enrolled |
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1 | in the foster care system by providing federally-reimbursable | ||||||
2 | services to families at risk of entering the child welfare | ||||||
3 | system will benefit the State of Illinois; therefore, be it
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4 | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL | ||||||
5 | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge the State to | ||||||
6 | support the Family First Prevention Services Act to help | ||||||
7 | decrease the number of children entered into foster care.
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