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92_SB0373
LRB9201644SMdv
1 AN ACT to amend the Children and Family Services Act.
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 any working condition
18 improvements required to 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. The report shall include a
22 determination by the Department of the adequacy of those
23 wages and salaries and fringe benefit packages in
24 assuring the provision of quality child care.
25 (4) The qualifications of new caregivers hired at
26 licensed day care facilities during the previous 2-year
27 period.
28 (5) Recommendations for increasing caregiver wages
29 and salaries to ensure quality care for children.
30 (6) Evaluation of the fee structure and income
31 eligibility for child care subsidized by the State.
32 The requirement for reporting to the General Assembly
33 shall be satisfied by filing copies of the report with the
34 Speaker, the Minority Leader, and the Clerk of the House of
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1 Representatives, the President, the Minority Leader, and the
2 Secretary of the Senate, and the Legislative Research Unit,
3 as required by Section 3.1 of the General Assembly
4 Organization Act, and filing such additional copies with the
5 State Government Report Distribution Center for the General
6 Assembly as is required under paragraph (t) of Section 7 of
7 the State Library Act.
8 (b) The Department of Human Services shall establish
9 policies and procedures for developing and implementing
10 interagency agreements with other agencies of the State
11 providing child care services or reimbursement for such
12 services. The plans shall be annually reviewed and modified
13 for the purpose of addressing issues of applicability and
14 service system barriers.
15 (c) In cooperation with other State agencies, the
16 Department of Human Services shall develop and implement, or
17 shall continue, a resource and referral system for the State
18 of Illinois either within the Department or by contract with
19 local or regional agencies. Funding for implementation of
20 this system may be provided through Department appropriations
21 or other inter-agency funding arrangements. The resource and
22 referral system shall provide at least the following
23 services:
24 (1) Assembling and maintaining a data base on the
25 supply of child care services.
26 (2) Providing information and referrals for
27 parents.
28 (3) Coordinating the development of new child care
29 resources.
30 (4) Providing technical assistance and training to
31 child care service providers.
32 (5) Recording and analyzing the demand for child
33 care services.
34 (d) The Department of Human Services shall conduct day
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1 care planning activities with the following priorities:
2 (1) Development of voluntary day care resources
3 wherever possible, with the provision for grants-in-aid
4 only where demonstrated to be useful and necessary as
5 incentives or supports. By January 1, 2002, the
6 Department shall design a plan to create more child care
7 slots as well as goals and timetables to improve quality
8 and accessibility of child care.
9 (2) Emphasis on service to children of recipients
10 of public assistance when such service will allow
11 training or employment of the parent toward achieving the
12 goal of independence.
13 (3) Maximum employment of recipients of public
14 assistance in day care centers and day care homes,
15 operated in conjunction with short-term work training
16 programs.
17 (4) Care of children from families in stress and
18 crises whose members potentially may become, or are in
19 danger of becoming, non-productive and dependent.
20 (5) Expansion of family day care facilities
21 wherever possible.
22 (6) Location of centers in economically depressed
23 neighborhoods, preferably in multi-service centers with
24 cooperation of other agencies. The Department shall
25 coordinate the provision of grants to encourage the
26 creation and expansion of child care centers in high need
27 communities to be issued by the State, business, and
28 local governments.
29 (7) Use of existing facilities free of charge or
30 for reasonable rental whenever possible in lieu of
31 construction.
32 (8) Development of strategies for assuring a more
33 complete range of day care options, including provision
34 of day care services in homes, in schools, or in centers,
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1 which will enable a parent or parents to complete a
2 course of education or obtain or maintain employment and
3 the creation of more child care options for swing shift,
4 evening, and weekend workers and for working women with
5 sick children. The Department shall encourage companies
6 to provide child care in their own offices or in the
7 building in which the corporation is located so that
8 employees of all the building's tenants can benefit from
9 the facility.
10 (9) Development of strategies for subsidizing
11 students pursuing degrees in the child care field.
12 (10) Continuation and expansion of support service
13 programs that assist teen parents to continue and
14 complete their education.
15 Emphasis shall be given to support services that will
16 help to ensure such parents' graduation from high school and
17 to services for participants in the Project Chance program of
18 job training conducted by the Department.
19 (e) The Department of Human Services shall actively
20 stimulate the development of public and private resources at
21 the local level. It shall also seek the fullest utilization
22 of federal funds directly or indirectly available to the
23 Department.
24 Where appropriate, existing non-governmental agencies or
25 associations shall be involved in planning by the Department.
26 (f) To better accommodate the child care needs of low
27 income working families, especially those who receive
28 Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or who are
29 transitioning from TANF to work, or who are at risk of
30 depending on TANF in the absence of child care, the
31 Department shall complete a study using outcome-based
32 assessment measurements to analyze the various types of child
33 care needs, including but not limited to: child care homes;
34 child care facilities; before and after school care; and
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1 evening and weekend care. Based upon the findings of the
2 study, the Department shall develop a plan by April 15, 1998,
3 that identifies the various types of child care needs within
4 various geographic locations. The plan shall include, but
5 not be limited to, the special needs of parents and guardians
6 in need of non-traditional child care services such as early
7 mornings, evenings, and weekends; the needs of very low
8 income families and children and how they might be better
9 served; and strategies to assist child care providers to meet
10 the needs and schedules of low income families.
11 (Source: P.A. 89-507, eff. 7-1-97; 90-236, eff. 7-28-97;
12 90-590, eff. 1-1-99.)