ACLU acts to protect children, those with disabilities during the budget impasse

As Illinois entered the new fiscal year without an approved budget, our State’s most vulnerable residents faced cataclysmic cuts in state services.

Here at the ACLU, we were especially concerned that our clients in four federal court lawsuits – children under the care of DCFS and people with disabilities – would be harmed by the lack of an approved spending plan. Faced with the risk of harm to clients, ACLU lawyers went back to court and won orders directing the State of Illinois to continue funding services for these at risk populations.

The orders require the State to continue to provide services and programs for children in the care of DCFS – and the foster families who provide the day-to-day care of these children; and to continue support for our clients with disabilities who currently are transitioning from large, impersonal institutions to apartments and homes of their own.

ACLU lawyers are able to protect our clients only because of your support. Thank you!


Learn more:

  • Ligas v. Norwood - challenges the institutionalization and segregation of people with developmental disabilities in large intermediate care facilities.
  • Colbert v. Rauner - alleges the State of Illinois violated the Americans with Disabilities Act by housing people with disabilities in institutions who could otherwise live independently.
  • Williams v. Rauner - defends people with psychiatric disabilities who are housed in Institutions for Mental Diseases.
  • B.H. v. Sheldon - long-standing consent decree to protect children under the care of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and to monitor the care and services they receive.

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