Full Text of HR0086 103rd General Assembly
HR0086 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The opioid crisis has exacted a terrible toll on | 3 | | our State and nation over the past three decades, including | 4 | | the loss of over 3,000 Illinoisans to overdose in 2021 alone, | 5 | | which is a nearly 36% increase in just two years of an epidemic | 6 | | that has hit some areas, including many rural regions and some | 7 | | communities of color, particularly harshly; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, The countless victims of the opioid epidemic | 9 | | include young children, the most vulnerable and helpless; | 10 | | every 25 minutes in the United States, a baby is born suffering | 11 | | from opioid withdrawal, also known as Neonatal Abstinence | 12 | | Syndrome (NAS); Illinois' own NAS rate grew 64% between 2011 | 13 | | and 2017 alone; and
| 14 | | WHEREAS, Babies born with NAS face a higher likelihood of | 15 | | experiencing health complications at birth, as well as | 16 | | long-term health challenges and developmental delays; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, Overdose is now the leading cause of maternal | 18 | | death in Illinois, adding to the many challenges experienced | 19 | | by young children, their families, and communities; and
| 20 | | WHEREAS, Parental substance use disorder is considered an | 21 | | Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE), and research consistently |
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| 1 | | shows that children experiencing ACEs are more likely than | 2 | | their peers to grow up to use drugs themselves and face | 3 | | physical and mental health challenges, as well as educational | 4 | | difficulties that can impact their ability to succeed later in | 5 | | life; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, Recognizing the need to address these issues, the | 7 | | Children and Families Committee of the Illinois Opioid Crisis | 8 | | Response Advisory Council has called for increased focus on | 9 | | how this drug epidemic has impacted children and their | 10 | | households; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, During development of the most recent iteration | 12 | | of the State Opioid Action Plan (SOAP), that committee made a | 13 | | number of relevant recommendations for increasing supports for | 14 | | affected children and families, in addition to strengthening | 15 | | the systems that help them; and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, Several key birth-to-3 programs have been shown | 17 | | to play an important role in remediating the detrimental | 18 | | effects of opioid use disorder as well as preventing future | 19 | | such problems, among many other positive health outcomes; and
| 20 | | WHEREAS, Voluntary home-visiting programs are one key | 21 | | example of these initiatives, services provided through such | 22 | | evidence-informed models as Healthy Families America, Nurse |
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| 1 | | Family Partnership, BabyTALK, and Parents As Teachers, in | 2 | | which trained professionals visit the homes of new or | 3 | | expecting parents and their young children to help support a | 4 | | wide variety of health, education, and developmental needs; | 5 | | and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, Quality home-visiting services have been shown to | 7 | | help build resilience among young children and reduce the | 8 | | likelihood that they experience ACEs and become involved in | 9 | | later-in-life drug use and crime, thus playing an important | 10 | | prevention role, and can also help connect parents with any | 11 | | substance-use recovery services they might need; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, The Maternal Morbidity and Mortality Report | 13 | | published in 2021 by the Illinois Department of Public Health | 14 | | recommends expanding home-visiting programs as a key strategy | 15 | | for addressing these significant maternal health challenges; | 16 | | and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, Early Intervention services are another vital | 18 | | birth-to-3 priority, providing physical, developmental, | 19 | | speech, and other therapies desperately needed by infants and | 20 | | toddlers with developmental delays or disabilities, or risks | 21 | | of such challenges, which are experienced more often by | 22 | | children born with NAS; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Our State's existing home-visiting and Early | 2 | | Intervention programs, which are administered through the | 3 | | Illinois Department of Human Services and work with | 4 | | local-level service providers statewide, are limited by | 5 | | existing resources, preventing them from reaching all the | 6 | | children and families who could benefit from high-quality | 7 | | birth-to-3 services; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, These longstanding shortcomings include | 9 | | inadequate compensation for hardworking and often-overextended | 10 | | community-level service providers and support staff, fueling | 11 | | high caseloads and staff turnover; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, It is an urgent priority to identify and pursue | 13 | | promising new sources of support for these early childhood | 14 | | initiatives that have a demonstrated history of beneficial | 15 | | outcomes for children, their families, their communities, and | 16 | | our entire State; and
| 17 | | WHEREAS, One potential and appropriate source of funding | 18 | | is represented in the settlement of several lawsuits against | 19 | | the manufacturers and distributors of opioids, lawsuits that | 20 | | were initially filed by a number of Illinois state's attorneys | 21 | | and ultimately combined with others across the country; and
| 22 | | WHEREAS, The Illinois Attorney General has joined in |
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| 1 | | negotiating the settlement of these national lawsuits that are | 2 | | leading to hundreds of millions of dollars in new resources | 3 | | for Illinois over the course of two decades, intended to | 4 | | strengthen efforts at drug treatment and remediation, as well | 5 | | as prevention of future opioid problems; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, Determination of the use of these forthcoming | 7 | | resources is split between local-level and state-level | 8 | | decision makers, with the latter being aided by an Illinois | 9 | | Opioid Remediation Advisory Board; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, One approved use of these settlement funds, as | 11 | | delineated in the Illinois Opioid Allocation Agreement, is to | 12 | | address the needs of pregnant or parenting women and their
| 13 | | families, including babies with NAS; and
| 14 | | WHEREAS, Members of the nonprofit, bipartisan Fight Crime: | 15 | | Invest in Kids organization, representing 340 Illinois police | 16 | | chiefs, sheriffs, and prosecutors, including those from | 17 | | several of the state's attorney's offices that initiated a | 18 | | number of these very same lawsuits, strongly support the use | 19 | | of these settlement dollars for home-visiting and Early | 20 | | Intervention services as an important way to aid our State's | 21 | | response to the opioid epidemic; therefore, be it
| 22 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE |
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| 1 | | HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 2 | | we support home-visiting and Early Intervention programs as an | 3 | | essential component of our State's multifaceted approach to | 4 | | the opioid crisis, helping remediate many of its corrosive | 5 | | impacts on young children, their parents, and families, while | 6 | | also assisting efforts at preventing children from future | 7 | | struggles with substance use disorders of their own; and be it | 8 | | further
| 9 | | RESOLVED, That we affirm these vital birth-to-3 services | 10 | | are a top priority for increased public resources, to | 11 | | strengthen their quality and extend their reach to more of the | 12 | | children, parents, and families who could benefit from them, | 13 | | particularly in communities of greatest need and those hit | 14 | | hardest by the opioid epidemic; and be it further
| 15 | | RESOLVED, That we affirm home-visiting and Early | 16 | | Intervention services are an appropriate and necessary use for | 17 | | some of the hundreds of millions of funding coming to Illinois | 18 | | from the settlement of lawsuits against opioid makers and | 19 | | distributors, initiatives that can help meet the settlements' | 20 | | stated aims of boosting opioid remediation, treatment, and | 21 | | prevention; and be it further
| 22 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 23 | | delivered to the offices of the Governor, the Lieutenant |
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| 1 | | Governor, the Attorney General, the Illinois Department of | 2 | | Human Services, the Illinois Department of Public Health, the | 3 | | Governor's Opioid Prevention and Recovery Steering Committee, | 4 | | the Illinois Opioid Crisis Response Advisory Council, and the | 5 | | Illinois Opioid Remediation Advisory Board.
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