The Illinois Foster Parents Association strongly supports the new initiative of Jess McDonald, director of the Department of Children and Family Services to bring back to Illinois wards placed out of state, as reported by Tribune writer Sue Ellen Christian (MetroChicago, July 23)
There are hundreds of foster families in Illinois who, given sufficient training, respite, financial and other supports, could provide a safe and loving home for these children at one-third the cost of housing them in other states. It must be stressed, however, that these additional supports–and especially respite services for the family–are crucial to the success of the effort.
While some of these children may be so disturbed that they will need to be placed in child-care institutions, space for them can be freed up by moving children from the facilities into qualified foster-home settings. In any case, they are better off being in Illinois than “out of sight, out of mind,” as director McDonald puts it.
