05-02-2025
IL act to make it easier for relatives to foster
HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT) – Governor JB Pritzker signed House Bill 4781, the Kinship in Demand (KIND) Act into law, allowing the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) to develop more flexible standards to certify grandparents and other relatives who are able to safely care for youth in DCFS's care.
'Children are more likely to thrive if they remain connected to their loved ones and community,' said Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Director Heidi E. Mueller. 'The KIND Act recognizes the significant role that families and communities play in the lives of children and youth and helps to equalize the cost of raising a child.'
Gov. Pritzker's office says the KIND Act will enhance the child welfare system and improve support for relatives raising children and youth by:
Equalizing payments to relatives with the rate provided to traditional foster parents
Helping youth-in-care maintain connections with their families
Tailoring services and supports to kinship families
Engaging youth, their families and kinship caregivers in permanency planning to materially improve their overall experiences
Making certain the wishes of youth and their families are taken into account when planning for the youth's future
Treating adoption and guardianship as equally viable options when reunification with parents is not possible
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Officials explain 9,300 children and youth in DCFS are living with relatives and many do not receive the same benefits as licensed foster caregivers due to outdated requirements. Relative caregivers are typically extended family members, such as grandparents, aunts, uncles or cousins, responsible for the safety, care and supervision of the child or youth. Licensed caregivers are foster parents who have met DCFS requirements and obtained a license to care for a child or youth in the child welfare system. The provisions of the KIND Act will allow for increased financial support to relative caregivers.
According to Gov. Pritzker's office, through the KIND Act, DCFS will develop more flexible certification standards for relative caregivers while maintaining 'essential' safety and welfare standards. Unlike the traditional licensing process – initially designed for foster parents who may be unfamiliar to the child – certification allows for a less burdensome path for relatives to receive financial support. DCFS is currently drafting rules outlining the standards for relative caregiver homes and will adopt them in the coming months.
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Officials say as a result of certification, increased financial support and an enhanced network of supports for relative caregivers, more children and youth in Illinois will have the opportunity to grow up living with extended family members who they already know and love when reunification with their parents is not an immediate option.
'The KIND Act reflects a simple reality – children whose lives have been disrupted need stability and love wherever and whenever possible,' said Nora Collins-Mandeville, director of systems reform policy at the ACLU of Illinois. 'We know that placing youth in the child welfare system with relatives lessens the trauma associated with family separation, reduces the number of times a child is moved, enhances permanency options if youth cannot be reunified and results in higher placement satisfaction for youth in care; and delivers better social, behavioral, mental health and educational outcomes for youth than when they are placed in non-kin foster care. Providing appropriate resources to family members to get these positive outcomes is good policy for children and for the state of Illinois.'
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