093_SB0127
LRB093 03305 MKM 03322 b
1 AN ACT concerning day care.
2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3 represented in the General Assembly:
4 Section 5. The Children and Family Services Act is
5 amended by changing Section 5.15 as follows:
6 (20 ILCS 505/5.15)
7 Sec. 5.15. Daycare; Department of Human Services.
8 (a) For the purpose of ensuring effective statewide
9 planning, development, and utilization of resources for the
10 day care of children, operated under various auspices, the
11 Department of Human Services is designated to coordinate all
12 day care activities for children of the State and shall
13 develop or continue, and shall update every year, a State
14 comprehensive day-care plan for submission to the Governor
15 that identifies high-priority areas and groups, relating them
16 to available resources and identifying the most effective
17 approaches to the use of existing day care services. The
18 State comprehensive day-care plan shall be made available to
19 the General Assembly following the Governor's approval of
20 the plan.
21 The plan shall include methods and procedures for the
22 development of additional day care resources for children to
23 meet the goal of reducing short-run and long-run dependency
24 and to provide necessary enrichment and stimulation to the
25 education of young children. Recommendations shall be made
26 for State policy on optimum use of private and public, local,
27 State and federal resources, including an estimate of the
28 resources needed for the licensing and regulation of day care
29 facilities.
30 A written report shall be submitted to the Governor and
31 the General Assembly annually on April 15. The report shall
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1 include an evaluation of developments over the preceding
2 fiscal year, including cost-benefit analyses of various
3 arrangements. Beginning with the report in 1990 submitted by
4 the Department's predecessor agency and every 2 years
5 thereafter, the report shall also include the following:
6 (1) An assessment of the child care services, needs
7 and available resources throughout the State and an
8 assessment of the adequacy of existing child care
9 services, including, but not limited to, services
10 assisted under this Act and under any other program
11 administered by other State agencies.
12 (2) A survey of day care facilities to determine
13 the number of qualified caregivers, as defined by rule,
14 attracted to vacant positions and any problems
15 encountered by facilities in attracting and retaining
16 capable caregivers. The report shall include an
17 assessment, based on the survey, of improvements in
18 employee benefits that may attract capable caregivers.
19 (3) The average wages and salaries and fringe
20 benefit packages paid to caregivers throughout the State,
21 computed on a regional basis, compared to similarly
22 qualified employees in other but related fields.
23 (4) The qualifications of new caregivers hired at
24 licensed day care facilities during the previous 2-year
25 period.
26 (5) Recommendations for increasing caregiver wages
27 and salaries to ensure quality care for children.
28 (6) Evaluation of the fee structure and income
29 eligibility for child care subsidized by the State.
30 The requirement for reporting to the General Assembly
31 shall be satisfied by filing copies of the report with the
32 Speaker, the Minority Leader, and the Clerk of the House of
33 Representatives, the President, the Minority Leader, and the
34 Secretary of the Senate, and the Legislative Research Unit,
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1 as required by Section 3.1 of the General Assembly
2 Organization Act, and filing such additional copies with the
3 State Government Report Distribution Center for the General
4 Assembly as is required under paragraph (t) of Section 7 of
5 the State Library Act.
6 (b) The Department of Human Services shall establish
7 policies and procedures for developing and implementing
8 interagency agreements with other agencies of the State
9 providing child care services or reimbursement for such
10 services. The plans shall be annually reviewed and modified
11 for the purpose of addressing issues of applicability and
12 service system barriers.
13 (c) In cooperation with other State agencies, the
14 Department of Human Services shall develop and implement, or
15 shall continue, a resource and referral system for the State
16 of Illinois either within the Department or by contract with
17 local or regional agencies. Funding for implementation of
18 this system may be provided through Department appropriations
19 or other inter-agency funding arrangements. The resource and
20 referral system shall provide at least the following
21 services:
22 (1) Assembling and maintaining a data base on the
23 supply of child care services.
24 (2) Providing information and referrals for
25 parents.
26 (3) Coordinating the development of new child care
27 resources.
28 (4) Providing technical assistance and training to
29 child care service providers.
30 (5) Recording and analyzing the demand for child
31 care services.
32 (c-5) The Department must, in association with the
33 resource and referral system and in consultation with the
34 Child Care and Development Advisory Council, develop and
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1 implement an infant-toddler initiative to address the severe
2 shortage of high quality child care in Illinois for children
3 under 3 years of age. The Department must annually report on
4 the status of the infant-toddler initiative as part of the
5 State's comprehensive day-care plan.
6 (d) The Department of Human Services shall conduct day
7 care planning activities with the following priorities:
8 (1) Development of voluntary day care resources
9 wherever possible, with the provision for grants-in-aid
10 only where demonstrated to be useful and necessary as
11 incentives or supports. By January 1, 2002, the
12 Department shall design a plan to create more child care
13 slots as well as goals and timetables to improve quality
14 and accessibility of child care.
15 (2) Emphasis on service to children of recipients
16 of public assistance when such service will allow
17 training or employment of the parent toward achieving the
18 goal of independence.
19 (3) (Blank).
20 (4) Care of children from families in stress and
21 crises whose members potentially may become, or are in
22 danger of becoming, non-productive and dependent.
23 (5) Expansion of family day care facilities
24 wherever possible.
25 (6) Location of centers in economically depressed
26 neighborhoods, preferably in multi-service centers with
27 cooperation of other agencies. The Department shall
28 coordinate the provision of grants, but only to the
29 extent funds are specifically appropriated for this
30 purpose, to encourage the creation and expansion of
31 child care centers in high need communities to be issued
32 by the State, business, and local governments.
33 (7) Use of existing facilities free of charge or
34 for reasonable rental whenever possible in lieu of
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1 construction.
2 (8) Development of strategies for assuring a more
3 complete range of day care options, including provision
4 of day care services in homes, in schools, or in centers,
5 which will enable a parent or parents to complete a
6 course of education or obtain or maintain employment and
7 the creation of more child care options for swing shift,
8 evening, and weekend workers and for working women with
9 sick children. The Department shall encourage companies
10 to provide child care in their own offices or in the
11 building in which the corporation is located so that
12 employees of all the building's tenants can benefit from
13 the facility.
14 (9) Development of strategies for subsidizing
15 students pursuing degrees in the child care field.
16 (10) Continuation and expansion of service programs
17 that assist teen parents to continue and complete their
18 education.
19 Emphasis shall be given to support services that will
20 help to ensure such parents' graduation from high school and
21 to services for participants in any programs of job training
22 conducted by the Department.
23 (e) The Department of Human Services shall actively
24 stimulate the development of public and private resources at
25 the local level. It shall also seek the fullest utilization
26 of federal funds directly or indirectly available to the
27 Department.
28 Where appropriate, existing non-governmental agencies or
29 associations shall be involved in planning by the Department.
30 (f) To better accommodate the child care needs of low
31 income working families, especially those who receive
32 Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or who are
33 transitioning from TANF to work, or who are at risk of
34 depending on TANF in the absence of child care, the
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1 Department shall complete a study using outcome-based
2 assessment measurements to analyze the various types of child
3 care needs, including but not limited to: child care homes;
4 child care facilities; before and after school care; and
5 evening and weekend care. Based upon the findings of the
6 study, the Department shall develop a plan by April 15, 1998,
7 that identifies the various types of child care needs within
8 various geographic locations. The plan shall include, but
9 not be limited to, the special needs of parents and guardians
10 in need of non-traditional child care services such as early
11 mornings, evenings, and weekends; the needs of very low
12 income families and children and how they might be better
13 served; and strategies to assist child care providers to meet
14 the needs and schedules of low income families.
15 (Source: P.A. 92-468, eff. 8-22-01.)
16 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
17 becoming law.