Colleen Connell, Executive Director of the ACLU of Illinois, testified before the Illinois Senate Appropriations I Committee on Tuesday about how Governor Bruce Rauner's budget will harm some of the most vulnerable Illinoisans. The Governor's budget cuts will eliminate funding for foster youth ages 18-21. This is a critical age range in development, and a period when adolescents need support in preparing for a full and productive adulthood. The ACLU of Illinois represents all Illinois foster youth under a decades-long consent decree designed to improve care and services for children in the custody of the Illinois Department of Children and Family services (DCFS). Progress Illinois quotes from Connell's testimony:
"[S]hould the proposed budget cutting continued services to foster children ages 18-21 become effective, the ACLU will return to federal court to block these cuts because they clearly violate the consent decree," ACLU of Illinois Executive Director Colleen Connell reportedly told a state Senate appropriations panel on Tuesday.