Full Text of HR0502 94th General Assembly
HR0502 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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HR0502 |
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, The Department of Children and Family Services | 3 |
| recognizes that adoption facilitates the endeavors of the State | 4 |
| of Illinois to protect children from neglect and harm, enhance | 5 |
| childhood health and nutrition, reduce and control diseases in | 6 |
| children, foster student learning, and encourage the | 7 |
| transition of children into productive responsible adults; and
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| WHEREAS, Although the adoption of children into loving | 9 |
| homes has a positive impact upon the lives of children who | 10 |
| might otherwise face the challenges of foster care and the | 11 |
| feeling of being unwanted, the difficulties in caring for an | 12 |
| adopted child continue well after the formal adoption court | 13 |
| order, especially for those families who adopted former wards | 14 |
| of DCFS or children with special needs; and
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| WHEREAS, Children with special needs often have a greater | 16 |
| likelihood of not being adopted; and
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| WHEREAS, Subsidies to adoptive families and post-adoption | 18 |
| services are central to the success of many adoptions; and | 19 |
| WHEREAS, DCFS has a significant reservoir of information | 20 |
| about post-adoption services in Illinois; and
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| WHEREAS, There is considerable variation among states | 22 |
| concerning programs and services available to adoptive parents | 23 |
| of children with special needs and adoptive parents of former | 24 |
| state wards and thus, a cross-state analysis would be useful to | 25 |
| determine what range of post-adoption programs and services | 26 |
| exist in other states; and
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| WHEREAS, Data from other states with post-adoption | 28 |
| programs would be helpful to determine possible changes in | 29 |
| Illinois post-adoption programs; and
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| WHEREAS, Public interest and advocacy groups involved in | 2 |
| post-adoption policy have valuable insights, suggestions, and | 3 |
| resources; and
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| WHEREAS, The General Assembly would be well served during | 5 |
| legislative deliberations by an in-depth study concerning | 6 |
| post-adoptive services, adoption of children with special | 7 |
| needs, adoption of DCFS wards, costs of raising adopted | 8 |
| children with special needs, and adoption subsidies; | 9 |
| therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 11 |
| NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 12 |
| we urge the Department of Children and Family Services to | 13 |
| conduct a study and issue a report with respect to | 14 |
| post-adoption services available in Illinois, the involvement | 15 |
| of the Department of Children and Family Services in | 16 |
| post-adoption services, and a comparison of the post-adoption | 17 |
| programs and services in Illinois with those in other states, | 18 |
| particularly focusing on post-adoption support, the adoption | 19 |
| of state wards, and the adoption of children with special | 20 |
| needs; and be it further | 21 |
| RESOLVED, That the study report also include the following | 22 |
| matters: | 23 |
| 1. The types of post-adoptive services available in | 24 |
| Illinois, including an analysis about the funding levels | 25 |
| for those services; | 26 |
| 2. A description of all services in Illinois that are | 27 |
| available to families with adopted children with special | 28 |
| needs; | 29 |
| 3. The costs that adoptive families incur while raising | 30 |
| a child with special needs; | 31 |
| 4. The types of specialized services that adoptive | 32 |
| families with children with special needs report that they |
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| need; | 2 |
| 5. An identification of recent trends in Illinois with | 3 |
| respect to the adoption of DCFS wards, particularly since | 4 |
| the passage of the federal Adoption and Safe Families Act | 5 |
| of 1997; | 6 |
| 6. A survey of a random sample of adoptive parents of | 7 |
| former DCFS wards in Illinois to gather data on their | 8 |
| household characteristics, the parents' estimates of the | 9 |
| costs of raising an adopted DCFS ward, the parents' | 10 |
| perceptions of the particular needs of an adopted former | 11 |
| DCFS ward, and the manner in which the adoptive family | 12 |
| spent its adoption subsidy; | 13 |
| 7. With respect to other states, determine what | 14 |
| subsidies and services are available to families adopting | 15 |
| former state wards; | 16 |
| 8. With respect to other states, determine what | 17 |
| subsidies and services are available to adoptive parents of | 18 |
| children with special needs; | 19 |
| 9. Where available, determine what other states spend | 20 |
| in order to offer subsidies and post-adoption services; | 21 |
| 10. With respect to other states, identify and collect | 22 |
| policy documents concerning post-adoption services, | 23 |
| especially reports, legislation, and policy manuals; and | 24 |
| 11. Identify information, reports, and proposals | 25 |
| supported by public interest and advocacy groups involved | 26 |
| in post-adoption services; and be it further
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| RESOLVED, That the adoption study report of the Department | 28 |
| of Children and Family Services be submitted to the House of | 29 |
| Representatives and the Senate no later than March 6, 2006, and | 30 |
| a copy of the study shall be submitted to the Governor; and be | 31 |
| it further
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| RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be presented to | 33 |
| the Director of Children and Family Services.
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