May is National Foster Care Month

CHICAGO - May is National Foster Care Month, a time to recognize the important role child welfare professionals, community social service agencies, caregivers and the public play in supporting children and families. This year's theme, "Engaging Youth. Building Supports. Strengthening Opportunities," aims to raise awareness about the importance of involving youth in the decisions being made about their welfare, the significance of maintaining connections to important people in their lives and how to best support youth as they transition out of foster care.

"Every child and youth in our care deserves to feel safe and loved" said Illinois DCFS Director Heidi E. Mueller. "It is because of our incredible foster parents across the state that children, youth and siblings can have a home and foster parent who has opened their heart, home and even their family so that a child can have the love and stability they need during a very difficult time."

Illinois DCFS makes every effort to reunify children with their families whenever possible. In cases when reunification cannot occur - less than 4% of the time - the department strives to preserve the child's bonds to their community, school and those they love. DCFS works diligently to recruit foster families in every area of the state to join the 7,291 currently licensed foster families who have made it their life's mission to open their hearts and homes to children in need.

In late 2024, the department created Foster Emergency Resource Homes (ERH), which are licensed foster parents who have agreed to take a new youth in care for up to 10 days while the DCFS caseworker works to identify relative caregivers, fictive kin or a suitable home for the youth to reside. These ERHs have helped to significantly reduce the need to have youth sleeping in offices.

Further, the KIND Act, signed into law by Governor Pritzker in February and effective July 1, will provide increased benefits and make it easier for grandparents and other relatives to become certified caregivers, creating a path for the more than 9,000 children and youth in our care who are living with relatives to find permanent homes. These programs reduce trauma on the child and help them maintain a sense of belonging, identity and relationships with their extended family.

Becoming a foster parent is a serious commitment. Illinois DCFS offers a wide range of supports and services to ensure foster parents have what they need to help the children in their home thrive, including ongoing training and a monthly stipend for the child's basic needs, such as food, clothing and housing costs. The department also provides medical coverage specifically designed for Illinois youth in care; therapeutic, educational, recreational and crisis support services and access to caseworkers and peer groups to support the needs of the youth and their foster family. The DCFS Startup Funds Program, launched last year, provides preloaded Visa cards to foster families when the child is initially placed in the home, enabling caregivers to purchase bedding, clothing, personal hygiene and other essential items for the child quickly and easily. 

Foster homes are needed for children of all ages, including sibling groups, adolescents, African American and Latino children, children with special medical needs, teenage mothers and their babies and LGBTQI+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and/or questioning, intersex) children. To learn more about some of the children in need of a foster family, visit the Heart Gallery of Illinois at https://letitbeus.org/heart-gallery-of-illinois/.

To learn more about becoming a licensed foster parent as well as learning more about becoming an Emergency Resource Home, fill out the online interest form on the DCFS website: https://dcfs.illinois.gov. Click on Loving Homes, then click on Become a Foster or Adoptive Parent.