Eye On Illinois: Push to tweak foster care system will also require cash infusion

The problem, as so often the case when it comes to government solutions, is money.

That’s the bottom line takeaway from Monday’s Capitol News Illinois story about House Bill 4781. Known as the Kinship in Demand Act, the proposal would take advantage of a shift in federal policy making it easier for children who need foster homes to be placed with relatives.

Under current state law, the Department of Children and Family Services pays foster parents who complete specific education and pass home inspections. Those and other standards are important for making sure DCFS wards are in better situations than their actual homes and verifying the people who provide foster care aren’t just in it for the checks.

However, the rules apply to any foster family, even those taking in a relative. The CNI story said almost 10,000 kids under DCFS care live with family members, but more than 60% of those homes aren’t qualified for monthly payments, yearly clothing vouchers or participating in support groups.

The Senate already unanimously approved the KIND Act and the House should take it up during the ongoing veto session. If approved, DCFS could seek extra federal money to help change standards for when a foster child is placed with a relative.

No one is arguing a child is better off in an unsafe home just because a great-uncle’s name is on the mortgage. But if the state rejects placements because an aunt’s third bedroom is too small or a cousin lacks the money to go through conventional certification, this plan offers an alternative path.

“Relatives who are coming forward have considerably less resources than a foster parent would,” Nora Collins-Mandeville, director of systems reform policy at the ACLU of Illinois, told CNI. “And so the fact that we’re not even, in our current system, paying those relatives the same amount that we pay a stranger to care for a child, it’s pretty frustrating.”

The law would change criminal background criteria for adults who want to foster relatives, which means DCFS can consider applicants who might otherwise be rejected if they were seeking to take in anyone. Courts would have oversight of the agency moving to a system that sought first to place children with relatives, including having the ability to expedite certain emergency placements.

Children removed from their homes have already experienced some level of tragedy. Illinois has failed many such kids, so the hope is to improve outcomes for at least some. Parents understand kids cost money, and no matter which policies change a cash infusion is essential to better results.

Can Illinois afford to increase foster spending or attract federal funds? We already know the costs of leaving those systems unchanged.

• Scott T. Holland writes about state government issues for Shaw Local News Network. Follow him on X @sth749. He can be reached at sholland@shawmedia.com.