HR0905 104TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0905 LRB104 21908 RMO 37797 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The Kinship in Demand (KIND) Act, Public Act 103-1061, was signed into law on February 5, 2025 with all provisions going into effect on July 1, 2025; and

WHEREAS, The KIND Act requires the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) to adopt a kin-first approach to the child welfare system, including, but not limited to, improving access to guardianship as a permanency goal for children in the DCFS's care, identifying and engaging relatives throughout the duration of a case for extended support and placement resources, and strengthening the level and quality of support provided to relative caregivers to make relative placements available to more children; and

WHEREAS, The KIND Act was created and passed to ensure better outcomes for children, maintaining and strengthening family connections and cultural ties through relative placement and support opportunities; pursuant to this law, DCFS must make continual efforts to identify and engage with family members who could serve as caregivers or sources of support in a child's life, and the courts must provide oversight of DCFS's obligations; and

WHEREAS, Multiple studies have shown that sustained family connection provides a level of relational permanence that cannot be replaced, presenting a myriad of benefits for children, which include, but are not limited to, reduced trauma, improved mental health outcomes, fewer behavioral problems, better social outcomes and educational stability, greater placement stability, higher levels of permanency, stronger ties to the child's family of origin, greater placement satisfaction for children, including feelings of love and belonging, and enhanced connections to cultural, ethnic, racial, and traditional communities of origin; and

WHEREAS, Research findings from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, among other organizations, have continually shown that kinship care results in better outcomes for children; the United States Congress has prioritized kinship care for decades, enacting various laws to provide funding and national standards to support a relative-focused foster care system nationwide; and

WHEREAS, The role of family members in a child's life extends beyond placement; relatives can contribute in other meaningful ways, such as providing assistance with visitation, transportation, and respite care, or simply as positive role models with whom a child interacts regularly, providing multiple points of connection and support; and

WHEREAS, Initial family-finding efforts and consistent relative engagement throughout the duration of a child's case are crucial to securing meaningful family support and connections, requiring DCFS to be both a partner and resource to families throughout the process; and

WHEREAS, Accordingly, one goal of the KIND Act is to increase the number of children achieving permanency through subsidized guardianship, to decrease the length of stays in care, and to provide overall stability and sustained family structure; guardianship has consistently proven to be the best option for many families because it respects family relationships when reunification is not available, and the KIND Act has provided resources and requirements to make kinship care and guardianship more viable options for relatives; and

WHEREAS, Judges are gatekeepers of parents' and children's rights to family integrity; judges make inquiries, enter findings, and provide essential oversight to ensure DCFS meets its obligations to children and families under the KIND Act, including to continuously and meaningfully engage children's extended network of kin, thereby securing relational permanence for children regardless of where they are placed; and

WHEREAS, The KIND Act supports the ongoing reforms required by the B.H. v. Mueller consent decree to improve the safety of thousands of children in DCFS's care, to lessen the length of time taken for a child to achieve permanency, and to improve the well-being of children in care and the quality of service provided by DCFS; and

WHEREAS, DCFS staggered implementation of the KIND Act with the first provisions taking effect on February 6, 2025, which remove barriers to guardianship by providing additional resources and supporting and prioritizing family finding, relative engagement, and placement through enhanced caseworker requirements, recognizing that federal law requires states to engage and prioritize relative placements; and

WHEREAS, The KIND Act requires DCFS to establish rules and procedures to ensure effective implementation, including rules to ensure fair review of decisions when relatives are denied placement, certification, or visitation; furthermore, under Illinois law, relative placement cannot be denied unless it is contrary to the child's best interest, adhering to the principles set forth in the KIND Act; and

WHEREAS, On June 17, 2025, the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules convened, provided approval for DCFS to publish rules necessary for implementation, and recommended that DCFS plan to revise these rules approximately one year after effectuated to respond to needs identified during the first year of implementation; DCFS published its rules, effective July 7, 2025; and

WHEREAS, On August 4, 2025, Illinois State Representative and President of the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) Marcus C. Evans Jr. presented at the annual NCSL Legislative Summit as part of a panel to discuss how legislators across the nation can bolster relative engagement and improve outcomes for children involved with the foster care system by embracing a kin-first approach as described in the KIND Act; and

WHEREAS, On December 4, 2025, DCFS celebrated its official launch of relative caregiver certification in Illinois with a virtual town hall attended by nearly 5,000 child welfare professionals; this launch included training, which detailed the processes for caseworkers and DCFS staff; DCFS also released Procedures 415 to guide case workers through the certification process, among other administrative requirements; and

WHEREAS, By the close of 2025, nearly one year after the guardianship provisions of the KIND Act went into effect, Illinois achieved its highest rate ever of permanency for children in care two or more years, due to record numbers of adoptions and guardianships that DCFS finalized in 2025; this rate is only expected to rise with the continual rollout and implementation of the KIND Act; and

WHEREAS, In March of this year, Illinois was recognized as the nation's leader in the placement of children with relatives by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, in part due to DCFS's dedicated commitment to implementing the KIND Act and its kin-first approach; Illinois is one of 19 states and six tribes for which the Children's Bureau has approved plans to differentiate licensing standards for kinship providers; and

WHEREAS, After regional testing, DCFS activated relative caregiver certification statewide on March 9, 2026, providing increased financial support to certified relative caregivers on par with the board payments provided to foster parents and bringing new federal funding to the State to subsidize this increase; and

WHEREAS, In May 2026, the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois released a suite of resources regarding the KIND Act, providing information for parents, relatives, and court stakeholders to learn about and advocate for the rights provided under the KIND Act; and

WHEREAS, In honor of National Foster Care Month being observed in May and International Day of the Family being observed on May 15, it is fitting to recognize the progress, improvements, and implementation efforts made by DCFS in furtherance of a stronger child welfare system and a commitment to relative engagement, placement, and care; and

WHEREAS, Throughout 2026, the number of children in care has continued to decrease, with the current caseload number at the lowest it has been in the last five years, indicating that as DCFS continues to improve its efforts to ensure relative supports and relational permanence, the overall outcomes for children can only grow stronger; while, as always, there is more progress to be made, the momentum and tangible changes that the KIND Act has set into motion are commendable achievements, explaining why other jurisdictions are consulting with Illinois as they consider bringing reforms similar to the KIND Act to their own jurisdictions; and

WHEREAS, As recently reported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Illinois was recognized as having the highest percentages of children living with relatives or kin while entering care and in foster care, 76% and 57% respectively, compared to all other states; comprehensive child welfare policymaking, with an emphasis on kinship care policy, must remain at the forefront as a state-level priority and continue to be supported through all available legislative, executive, and judicial tools, including continual discussion and reform efforts within the General Assembly, as the legislature plays an important role in the systemic change of DCFS; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we acknowledge the accomplishments and implementation progress of the Kinship in Demand (KIND) Act, recognizing the time and resources devoted by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and the leadership of the Governor's Office, and we urge DCFS to aggressively continue implementation of the KIND Act to deliver permanency to more children and to keep families together even when reunification is not possible, ensuring children have loving, stable homes; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge DCFS to execute needed revisions to Rule 415 one year after all statutory provisions went into effect, as discussed at the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules hearing in June 2025, incorporating revisions based on identified issues and lessons learned from DCFS's implementation efforts to ensure that the KIND Act can be properly and uniformly enforced across the State and that the spirit of all statutory requirements is fully realized, such as the harmonization of statute and rule related to the placement decision review processes; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge DCFS to actively pursue the recently announced federal funding opportunities by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children & Families to support kinship navigator services and to bolster the implementation of the KIND Act, providing greater supports for kin involved with DCFS throughout the State of Illinois; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge DCFS to provide continual, updated training opportunities and resource materials for staff, tailored to meet the changing needs of caseworkers, families, and overall departmental cohesion and effectiveness, with a focus on building relational permanence for children; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts to provide effective statewide judicial education on the KIND Act and support the judiciary's efforts to diligently implement the components of the KIND Act, including the necessary oversight to enforce the KIND Act's provisions requiring DCFS to meaningfully engage in initial and ongoing family finding and relative engagement efforts, consistently place children with kin unless it is contrary to children's best interests, and meaningfully consider guardianship as a permanency option when reunification is not possible; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be delivered to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Illinois, the Administrative Director of the Illinois Courts, and the Director of the Department of Children and Family Services.