SPRINGFIELD – Further showing his commitment to youth in care, State Senator Robert Peters (D-Chicago) is sponsoring legislation expanding access to services available to post-placement and post-adoption children.
“I’m a child of adoption, so I have first-hand experience of how important these services are to youth in care,” Peters said. “I want kids who are adopted or placed in foster care to have greater access than I did to the helpful services they require.”
The legislation, House Bill 3587:
- adds mental health treatment, counseling and support services for emotional, behavioral, or developmental needs, and treatment for substance abuse to the definition of “post-placement and post-adoption services.”
- expands the requirements of the Department of Children and Family Services to establish and maintain accessible services.
- requires DCFS to establish and maintain a toll-free number to respond to public requests about the service.
- requires DCFS to properly publicize the new services and the toll-free number.
The bill is an initiative of the Adoption Law Committee of the Chicago Bar Association. The organization has argued the legislation will better ensure successful adoptions and lower the rate of children being returned to state care.
Having passed the Senate Human Services Committee, the bill now moves to the full Senate for consideration.
