Illinois Should Stop Charging Parents for Foster Care, Says Jeffery Leving

Foster Care Issues Illinois Foster Care foster care system Broken System of Foster Care in America Jeffery Leving

By Jo Anne Hubert , Parent Herald Dec 20, 09:20 am

A commentary stated that Illinois must follow federal guidelines and stop charging parents for their children's foster care. Named America's best lawyer, Jeffery Leving, wrote an op-ed for Chicago Tribune calling out Illinois for charging parents with their kids' foster care.

According to Leving, the public isn't aware, but most foster care systems in America force parents to pay the state or county child support if their kid is under the foster care system.

This type of arrangement, as a result, forces parents to have their children placed in foster care for several added months as they do not yet have available payment. Thus, as per Leving, the system burdens families with added debt that often goes on for years.

Mostly affected are Black families

This setup extremely affects low-income families, especially Blacks. With more than half of Black kids being subject to child welfare investigation by the time they become 18 years old, Black families are twice as much affected compared to white families, a child protection system expert and professor from the University of Pennsylvania, Dorothy Roberts, informed CBS News.

The Children's Defense Fund (CDF) reported that 9.9 out of 1,000 Black children are in foster care, compared to 5.2 out of 1,000 white children in America.

Leving reported that the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, after calls were made about changing the system, issued guidance this summer to states stating that in their choosing, they can stop presenting child support bills to parents who are in foster care.

Leving described this step as good and shared the good news that Illinois is changing its system by the end of June.

Technology comes with challenges

"DCFS is aware of the ACF revised guidance regarding the collection of parental support payments. DCFS does anticipate changes to the current practice and is currently reviewing the legal requirements associated with any changes. The department anticipates changes being announced within the current fiscal year," William McCaffrey, Illinois Department of Children and Family Services spokesman, said in a statement.

Leving noted that it is still being determined that Illinois will entirely stop charging parents of children in foster care. However, what McCaffrey and his team are promising sounds like a positive change is underway.

Moreover, the lawyer expressed that it is great news for all parents in Illinois as it is finally time to correct a broken system.

According to CDF, a child is taken away from their home every two minutes and placed under foster care in the U.S.

Currently, more than 400,000 children are in the foster care system across the United States, and many are placed there for controversial reasons.