SR0444 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0444 LRB093 21360 HSS 47778 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The members of the Senate of the State of Illinois are pleased to recognize the milestones of important institutions in the State; and

WHEREAS, In the late 1950s and early 1960s, child welfare professionals in Illinois were becoming increasingly concerned about children who needed care and services but were left out of the child welfare system; to consolidate efforts to study and assess further the needs of such children, "The Committee on the Left Out Child" was created and functioned under the charge of the Welfare Council of Metropolitan Chicago; the committee determined the needs of children were so great and the services to them were so fragmented that the creation of a separate Department to serve all of Illinois' children and their families was needed; and

WHEREAS, The "Committee on the Left Out Child" became the "Comprehensive Family and Child Welfare Committee; following the creation of the Department of Mental Health in 1961, rigorous efforts to create a separate Department for Children and Families continued even more strongly until the Department of Children and Family Services was created through legislation in 1963; and

WHEREAS, The legislation creating the Department of Children and Family Services was enacted by the 73rd General Assembly; it was approved and signed by the Governor on June 4, 1963, and became effective on January 1, 1964; the stated purpose of the act was "to create a Department of Children and Family Services to provide social services to children and their families, to operate children's institutions, and to provide certain other rehabilitative and residential services"; and

WHEREAS, Upon its inception, the Department of Children and Family Services took over responsibility for most of the non-psychiatric programs and services for children from the Department of Mental Health; and

WHEREAS, The Department of Children and Family Services has undergone a number of changes since 1964; the Child Care Act of 1969 and amendments in 1973 and 1975 included information about licensing and inspections functions that are the responsibility of the Department of Children and Family Services; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we congratulate the Department of Children and Family Services on the occasion of its 40th anniversary, and we commend the Department for its work on behalf of the children of the State of Illinois; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to Department of Children and Family Services as an expression of our esteem.