Governor Signs New Legislation Expanding Protections to Children Under the Care of the Department of Children and Family Services

CHICAGO – In the face of efforts at the federal level to roll back critical protections for basic civil rights and civil liberties for all people in America, Governor JB Pritzker signed into law the SECURE Act, a measure that extends critical non-discrimination protections for young people under the care of the State of Illinois (in the Department of Children and Family Services). The new law, once implemented, will guarantee that youth placed outside Illinois state lines by DCFS are not deprived of health care that is lawful in our state. The Governor’s action was applauded by advocates for the bill and legislative sponsors.

“The SECURE Act enshrines protections against mistreatment of Illinois foster youth,” said State Senator Celina Villanueva, who sponsored the legislation in the Illinois Senate. “It recognizes that when the state removes a child from their parent, then the state assumes an affirmative obligation to ensure the child’s safety and well-being. But it also puts a requirement on our state to provide the lawful health care we have adopted through our public policy processes – even when other states have prohibited this life-saving care.”

Each year, thousands of young people are placed in the care of DCFS. These young people may be placed in foster homes, with relatives, or residential group settings. Hundreds of these youth are placed out of state. These young people might be placed with a relative in another state or placed in a care facility located outside Illinois. In some circumstances, these young people may be in state which has barred their access to health care or other services that are lawful in Illinois. The SECURE Act makes clear that any young person under the care of the State of Illinois cannot be deprived of the benefits of Illinois statutory protections for access to lawful health simply because they are not living in Illinois.

“The SECURE Act is an important step for Illinois in pushing back against the attacks on youth – especially trans youth – that we are witnessing across the country,” added State Representative Kelly Cassidy, House sponsor of the bill. “The SECURE Act elevates the critical and necessary role of a youth’s voice in making substantial decisions about their lives. That critical policy in Illinois should go with the children in our care even when they are placed in other states.”

The SECURE Act requires DCFS to establish standards of conduct for staff and caregivers to protect you from mistreatment based on their protected characteristics, protect against retaliation for reporting discrimination, and requires the DCFS Inspector General to investigate such instances in which youth’s rights under the SECURE Act have been violated.

The SECURE Act mandates that DCFS to take specific protective measures for youth placed out placed out of state including:

• Pre-placement planning for out of state care (either individual families or facilities)
• Regular, direct contact for youth out of state with an Illinois-based worker
• Appointment of counsel for out of state youth at high risk of being deprived of lawful health care guaranteed under Illinois law
• Court oversight

“As other states have rushed to the bottom to strip fundamental rights and liberties from people, Illinois has taken the opposite approach – expanding critical protections for all people in our state,” added Nora Collins-Mandeville, Director of Youth and Family Policy Project at the ACLU of Illinois. “The SECURE Act gives further, critical support to children in the care of DCFS who will be protected because of their efforts and makes the protections for these children the law of the land in Illinois.”