Paving the way to permanent families for Youth in Care through guardianship
Every child deserves to grow up in a loving, stable home that fosters identity, well-being and successful adulthood.
At the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, we envision and are working hard to realize a future where every child in Illinois has that opportunity. One vital but underutilized way to achieve this is through guardianship, an alternative to foster care that ensures more Illinois children find the permanency they need.
Guardianship allows children to live permanently with relatives or fictive kin (trusted, chosen family who are not related to a child by birth). Through guardianship, caregivers who are already part of a child’s life provide a permanent, safe and stable environment that preserves existing family bonds.
Guardianship honors the wishes of older children who may not want to consent to adoption, and it preserves children’s rights to association with their siblings, grandparents and other extended family members who are essential to their long-term well-being and help preserve connections to culture, language and community. With guardianship, birth parents also may retain residual rights to visit and maintain a presence in their children’s lives.
In Illinois, over 18,850 children currently live in foster care. Of these, 9,843 are living with relatives, 7,781 are with foster families, and 637 are in group homes.
Like states across the country, Illinois is experiencing the effects of a nationwide shortage of traditional foster homes. Guardianship can help move children out of an overstressed foster care system and into a permanent, loving home that preserves connection to family, community, culture and language.
For eligible youth, DCFS provides a financial subsidy to caregivers who become legal guardians of children in our care. This includes a monthly stipend to assist with the child’s food, shelter, clothing and personal allowance. Children also receive health insurance that pays for necessary medical care and prescriptions. Legal guardians’ subsidies may also include support services, such as counseling, physical therapy and medical equipment. Payments for daycare services may also be available.
By choosing guardianship, families offer children more than just a home; they offer a chance to maintain relationships that are critical to a child’s development and identity. Subsidized guardianship ensures children can continue to lean on these critical relationships to guide them as they transition into permanent homes, begin to heal from the traumas they have experienced, and grow into successful adults.
When we support guardianship as a path to permanency for children in our community, we are recognizing the critical role of family, community and identity in a child’s life and creating opportunities for more children to grow up in a permanent, loving family.
Together, we can reduce the number of children in foster care and help ensure that every child has the chance to grow up in a permanent, loving family.