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http://www.bnd.com/news/local/story/112559.html
Posted on Sat, Aug. 25, 2007
Blagojevich signs child protection bill
DCFS cases to get further scrutiny
BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK AND BETH HUNDSDORFER
News-Democrat
SPRINGFIELD --A law designed to protect children under state care by employing error reduction teams to monitor deficient casework at Department of Children and Family Services field offices was signed on Friday by Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
HB 616, sponsored by state Rep. Tom Holbrook, D-Belleville, will take effect Jan. 1, according to the governor's office in Springfield.
"We need to ensure that we improve every opportunity we have to make this system safer for our children. And this bill does that," Holbrook said Friday.
The law, co-sponsored by state Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Greenville, will establish teams from the inspector general's office for the DCFS to spot dangerous trends and shoddy child abuse investigations. For years, this office has had the responsibility of investigating the deaths and serious injury of children under state care.
The new law also will open previously confidential DCFS records in cases where criminal charges have been filed in child abuse cases. It also strengthens the authority of the state's nine regional volunteer child death review teams by requiring that the DCFS director respond more quickly to recommendations from the teams.
A companion bill, HB 617, where Stephens was the primary sponsor, remains on the governor's desk.
Both laws resulted from "Lethal Lapses," a three-day series in the News-Democrat published in November. It reported that 53 children died between 1998 and 2005 after state child protection workers committed errors, used poor judgment, and failed to follow the department's rules and regulations.
Both Stephens and Holbrook have said there has been no opposition in the General Assembly to HB 617, and they expect Blagojevich to sign that as well. The governor has until June 29, or 60 days after the proposed legislation passed both the House and the Senate, to sign the bill.
HB 617, if signed, would require the director of DCFS to respond more quickly to recommendations from the department's inspector general concerning specific death and injury cases. Currently, investigations can take three years before the results and department recommendations are published. However, the law does not affect separate state confidentiality laws that require that names, dates and identifying details not be published in these reports.
The bill that remains on the governor's desk also would require the DCFS inspector general to finish reports within months instead of years.
The newspaper's series prompted the establishment of the DCFS Oversight Committee in the state legislature to address ongoing problems concerning child abuse and care.
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Illionois System
Moderators: family_man, LindaJM
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http://www.herald-review.com/articles/2 ... 031329.txt
Saturday, March 29, 2008 12:24 AM CDT
Legislation would cuts adoption costs, open birth records
SPRINGFIELD - About 5,000 children are adopted in Illinois every year at a cost of about $25,000 per adoption.
Once the process is complete, the adopted child is severed from their birth records for life unless they go on a hunt for their biological parents.
"You're forcing somebody to do something they don't want to do or aren't ready to do," said state Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, D-Chicago, House sponsor for legislation to make birth records available to adopted people in Illinois.
All of that could change in Illinois if two measures are approved this year. One proposed law would curb the cost of adopting a child. The other would allow adopted individuals to gain access freely to their birth certificate.
"The right to one's own identity is a basic and unalienable human right," Feigenholtz said. "Existing Illinois law robs tens of thousands of Illinois adults of the right to know who they are."
The law would nullify legislation approved in 1947 and would allow adoptees born before Jan. 1, 1946, to access to their birth certificate. Feigeholtz said current state law protects the interests of biological parents who wish to maintain secrecy. Her data, from the Illinois Adoption Registry, declares only 17 biological parents who have filed forms to keep their identities from being disclosed.
Even so, Feigenholtz said the new law would include a series of safeguards to ensure that birth parents seeking confidentiality may do so.
Birth parents whose children were adopted in 1946 or later will be protected by a six-month waiting-period when they can declare their wishes to remain anonymous. Those parents also may ask that their names be scratched from the original birth certificate upon their child's request to view the document.
The legislation has passed out of a House committee on adoption reform. It now will be debated in the House and Senate.
"Whether I'm 3 months old or 51 years old, they can receive the document that has my birth mother's name on it," said Feigenholtz, who was adopted as a child.
State Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, R-Okawville, has proposed a tax break to encourage more adoptions.
If approved, adopting parents could qualify for a $1,000 state income tax break.
"We don't want to see these kids in foster homes," said Luechtefeld. "It's already terribly expensive, and this isn't a whole lot of money, but it is some sort of deduction to encourage the process."
The proposal has advanced out of a Senate committee and awaits action in the full Senate.
The Feigenholtz legislation is House Bill 4623. The Luechtefeld legislation is Senate Bill 2282.
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http://www.herald-review.com/articles/2 ... 031329.txt
Saturday, March 29, 2008 12:24 AM CDT
Legislation would cuts adoption costs, open birth records
SPRINGFIELD - About 5,000 children are adopted in Illinois every year at a cost of about $25,000 per adoption.
Once the process is complete, the adopted child is severed from their birth records for life unless they go on a hunt for their biological parents.
"You're forcing somebody to do something they don't want to do or aren't ready to do," said state Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, D-Chicago, House sponsor for legislation to make birth records available to adopted people in Illinois.
All of that could change in Illinois if two measures are approved this year. One proposed law would curb the cost of adopting a child. The other would allow adopted individuals to gain access freely to their birth certificate.
"The right to one's own identity is a basic and unalienable human right," Feigenholtz said. "Existing Illinois law robs tens of thousands of Illinois adults of the right to know who they are."
The law would nullify legislation approved in 1947 and would allow adoptees born before Jan. 1, 1946, to access to their birth certificate. Feigeholtz said current state law protects the interests of biological parents who wish to maintain secrecy. Her data, from the Illinois Adoption Registry, declares only 17 biological parents who have filed forms to keep their identities from being disclosed.
Even so, Feigenholtz said the new law would include a series of safeguards to ensure that birth parents seeking confidentiality may do so.
Birth parents whose children were adopted in 1946 or later will be protected by a six-month waiting-period when they can declare their wishes to remain anonymous. Those parents also may ask that their names be scratched from the original birth certificate upon their child's request to view the document.
The legislation has passed out of a House committee on adoption reform. It now will be debated in the House and Senate.
"Whether I'm 3 months old or 51 years old, they can receive the document that has my birth mother's name on it," said Feigenholtz, who was adopted as a child.
State Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, R-Okawville, has proposed a tax break to encourage more adoptions.
If approved, adopting parents could qualify for a $1,000 state income tax break.
"We don't want to see these kids in foster homes," said Luechtefeld. "It's already terribly expensive, and this isn't a whole lot of money, but it is some sort of deduction to encourage the process."
The proposal has advanced out of a Senate committee and awaits action in the full Senate.
The Feigenholtz legislation is House Bill 4623. The Luechtefeld legislation is Senate Bill 2282.
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http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?sectio ... id=6245358
Parents win lawsuit over custody dispute
Friday, July 04, 2008 | 8:16 AM
CHICAGO -- The parents of a child seized by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services have won the lawsuit they filed against the city of Chicago because of the actions of two police detectives.
A federal jury awarded $4.2 million Thursday to Jose Duran and his wife, Evelyn Torres. The couple claimed two Chicago detectives "lied" to state investigators
DCFS investigators in November 2005, were looking into two broken arms suffered by their then 6-month-old daughter.
The lawsuit claimed two detectives incorrectly administered polygraph tests to the parents and then did not fully disclose the results to DCFS. Because of the detectives' actions, the couple claimed DCFS placed the child in protective custody.
Their child was returned in September 2006.
A city of Chicago law department spokeswoman said the city is disappointed with the verdict and is reviewing its legal options
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http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?sectio ... id=6245358
Parents win lawsuit over custody dispute
Friday, July 04, 2008 | 8:16 AM
CHICAGO -- The parents of a child seized by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services have won the lawsuit they filed against the city of Chicago because of the actions of two police detectives.
A federal jury awarded $4.2 million Thursday to Jose Duran and his wife, Evelyn Torres. The couple claimed two Chicago detectives "lied" to state investigators
DCFS investigators in November 2005, were looking into two broken arms suffered by their then 6-month-old daughter.
The lawsuit claimed two detectives incorrectly administered polygraph tests to the parents and then did not fully disclose the results to DCFS. Because of the detectives' actions, the couple claimed DCFS placed the child in protective custody.
Their child was returned in September 2006.
A city of Chicago law department spokeswoman said the city is disappointed with the verdict and is reviewing its legal options
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