SPRINGFIELD -- Governor George H. Ryan today proposed a total budget of $1.4 billion for the state's child welfare agency that will continue improvements in child safety, permanency and well-being.

"By combining program innovation, the right investments in key service delivery areas and successful partnerships with community providers, DCFS has built on a record of success in serving children more safely and with better prospects for permanency," Governor Ryan said.

The proposed budget supports the core mission of the Department to improve child safety, permanency and well-being, and specifically calls for:

• Continued funding for protective services, which supports a successful strategy of preventing child removals by serving more children in their own home with fewer incidents of repeated abuse and neglect;
• an increase of $18.9 million, or 7.3 percent for adoption and guardianships, reflecting continued growth in the number of cases leaving substitute care for adoption and guardianship; and
• a decrease of $32.6 million, or 8.5 percent, in foster care. This marks the sixth consecutive year of declines in the number of children in out-of-home placements. During the current fiscal year, the number of children in foster care is expected to fall to 21,165-a decline of 9.5 percent and a total decline of more than 50 percent from the agency's historic peak of under 50,000 children in 1997.

"The Governor's on-going commitment to DCFS has enabled the agency to maintain the necessary resources for managing a service delivery system which emphasizes improving outcomes for the children and families we serve, " said DCFS Director Jess McDonald.

View the DCFS Budget Book. (1.9 meg, Adobe Acrobat)

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