Public Act 095-1040
 
SB0381 Enrolled LRB095 06715 HLH 26827 b

    AN ACT concerning State government.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Children and Family Services Act is amended
by changing Section 34.11 as follows:
 
    (20 ILCS 505/34.11)
    Sec. 34.11. Lou Jones Grandparent Child Care Program
Grandparent child care program.
    (a) The General Assembly finds and declares the following:
        (1) An increasing number of children under the age of
    18, including many children who would otherwise be at risk
    of abuse or neglect, are in the care of a grandparent or
    other nonparent relative.
        (2) The principal causes of this increase include
    parental substance abuse, child abuse, mental illness,
    poverty, and death, as well as concerted efforts by
    families and by the child welfare service system to keep
    children with relatives whenever possible.
        (3) Grandparents and older relatives providing primary
    care for at-risk children may experience unique resultant
    problems, such as financial stress due to limited incomes,
    emotional difficulties dealing with the loss of the child's
    parents or the child's unique behaviors, and decreased
    physical stamina coupled with a much higher incidence of
    chronic illness.
        (4) Many children being raised by nonparent relatives
    experience one or a combination of emotional, behavioral,
    psychological, academic, or medical problems, especially
    those born to a substance-abusing mother or at risk of
    child abuse, neglect, or abandonment.
        (5) Grandparents and other relatives providing primary
    care for children lack appropriate information about the
    issues of kinship care, the special needs (both physical
    and psychological) of children born to a substance-abusing
    mother or at risk of child abuse, neglect, or abandonment,
    and the support resources currently available to them.
        (6) An increasing number of grandparents and other
    relatives age 60 or older are adopting or becoming the
    subsidized guardians of children placed in their care by
    the Department. Some of these children will experience the
    death of their adoptive parent or guardian before reaching
    the age of 18. For most of these children, no legal plan
    has been made for the child's future care and custody in
    the event of the caregiver's death or incapacity.
        (7) Grandparents and other relatives providing primary
    care for children lack appropriate information about
    future care and custody planning for children in their
    care. They also lack access to resources that may assist
    them in developing future legal care and custody plans for
    children in their legal custody.
    (b) The Department may establish an informational and
educational program for grandparents and other relatives who
provide primary care for children who are at risk of child
abuse, neglect, or abandonment or who were born to
substance-abusing mothers. As a part of the program, the
Department may develop, publish, and distribute an
informational brochure for grandparents and other relatives
who provide primary care for children who are at risk of child
abuse, neglect, or abandonment or who were born to
substance-abusing mothers. The information provided under the
program authorized by this Section may include, but is not
limited to the following:
        (1) The most prevalent causes of kinship care,
    especially the risk of substance exposure or child abuse,
    neglect, or abandonment.
        (2) The problems experienced by children being raised
    by nonparent caregivers.
        (3) The problems experienced by grandparents and other
    nonparent relatives providing primary care for children
    who have special needs.
        (4) The legal system as it relates to children and
    their nonparent primary caregivers.
        (5) The benefits available to children and their
    nonparent primary caregivers.
        (6) A list of support groups and resources located
    throughout the State.
    The brochure may be distributed through hospitals, public
health nurses, child protective services, medical professional
offices, elementary and secondary schools, senior citizen
centers, public libraries, community action agencies selected
by the Department, and the Department of Human Services.
    (c) In addition to other provisions of this Section, the
Department shall establish a program of information, social
work services, and legal services for any person age 60 or over
and any other person who may be in need of a future legal care
and custody plan who adopt, have adopted, take guardianship of,
or have taken guardianship of children previously in the
Department's custody. This program shall also assist families
of deceased adoptive parents and guardians. As part of the
program, the Department shall:
        (1) Develop a protocol for identification of persons
    age 60 or over and others who may be in need of future care
    and custody plans, including ill caregivers, who are
    adoptive parents, prospective adoptive parents, guardians,
    or prospective guardians of children who are or have been
    in Department custody.
        (2) Provide outreach to caregivers before and after
    adoption and guardianship, and to the families of deceased
    caregivers, regarding Illinois legal options for future
    care and custody of children.
        (3) Provide training for Department and private agency
    staff on methods of assisting caregivers before and after
    adoption and guardianship, and the families of older and
    ill caregivers, who wish to make future care and custody
    plans for children who have been wards of the Department
    and who are or will be adopted by or are or will become
    wards of those caregivers.
        (4) Ensure that all caregivers age 60 or over who will
    adopt or will become guardians of children previously in
    Department custody have specifically designated future
    caregivers for children in their care. The Department shall
    document this designation, and the Department shall also
    document acceptance of this responsibility by any future
    caregiver. Documentation of future care designation shall
    be included in each child's case file and adoption or
    guardianship subsidy files as applicable to the child.
        (5) Ensure that any designated future caregiver and the
    family of a deceased caregiver have information on the
    financial needs of the child and future resources that may
    be available to support the child, including any adoption
    assistance and subsidized guardianship for which the child
    is or may be eligible.
        (6) With respect to programs of social work and legal
    services:
            (i) Provide contracted social work services to
        older and ill caregivers, and the families of deceased
        caregivers, including those who will or have adopted or
        will take or have taken guardianship of children
        previously in Department custody. Social work services
        to caregivers will have the goal of securing a future
        care and custody plan for children in their care. Such
        services will include providing information to the
        caregivers and families on standby guardianship,
        guardianship, standby adoption, and adoption. The
        Department will assist the caregiver in developing a
        plan for the child if the caregiver becomes
        incapacitated or terminally ill, or dies while the
        child is a minor. The Department shall develop a form
        to document the information given to caregivers and to
        document plans for future custody, in addition to the
        documentation described in subsection (b) (4). This
        form shall be included in each child's case file and
        adoption or guardianship subsidy files as applicable
        to the child.
            (ii) Through a program of contracted legal
        services, assist older and ill caregivers, and the
        families of deceased caregivers, with the goal of
        securing court-ordered future care and custody plans
        for children in their care. Court-ordered future care
        and custody plans may include: standby guardianship,
        successor guardianship, standby adoption, and
        successor adoption. The program will also study ways in
        which to provide timely and cost-effective legal
        services to older and ill caregivers, and to families
        of deceased caregivers in order to ensure permanency
        for children in their care.
        (7) Ensure that future caregivers designated by
    adoptive parents or guardians, and the families of deceased
    caregivers, understand their rights and potential
    responsibilities and shall be able to provide adequate
    support and education for children who may become their
    legal responsibility.
        (8) Ensure that future caregivers designated by
    adoptive parents and guardians, and the families of
    deceased caregivers, understand the problems of children
    who have experienced multiple caregivers and who may have
    experienced abuse, neglect, or abandonment or may have been
    born to substance-abusing mothers.
        (9) Ensure that future caregivers designated by
    adoptive parents and guardians, and the families of
    deceased caregivers, understand the problems experienced
    by older and ill caregivers of children, including children
    with special needs, such as financial stress due to limited
    income and increased financial responsibility, emotional
    difficulties associated with the loss of a child's parent
    or the child's unique behaviors, the special needs of a
    child who may come into their custody or whose parent or
    guardian is already deceased, and decreased physical
    stamina and a higher rate of chronic illness and other
    health concerns.
        (10) Provide additional services as needed to families
    in which a designated caregiver appointed by the court or a
    caregiver designated in a will or other legal document
    cannot or will not fulfill the responsibilities as adoptive
    parent, guardian, or legal custodian of the child.
    (d) The Department shall consult with the Department on
Aging and any other agency it deems appropriate as the
Department develops the program required by subsection (c).
    (e) Rulemaking authority to implement this amendatory Act
of the 95th General Assembly, if any, is conditioned on the
rules being adopted in accordance with all provisions of the
Illinois Administrative Procedure Act and all rules and
procedures of the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules; any
purported rule not so adopted, for whatever reason, is
unauthorized.
(Source: P.A. 88-229; 88-670, eff. 12-2-94; 89-507, eff.
7-1-97.)
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.