Each year, Children’s Home + Aid serves over 1,700 children who have suffered abuse or neglect, been removed from their homes by the State of Illinois, and placed in the care of Children’s Home + Aid. Across 60 Illinois counties, Children’s Home + Aid provides foster homes and services that ensure children’s safety, permanency and well-being.

Moving Kids From Foster Care To Permanent Homes

The agency believes that the best place for children to grow up is in a family. Once the State of Illinois places children in the care of Children’s Home + Aid, the agency focuses on moving children from foster care to permanent homes via adoption, placement with a legal guardian, or reunification with their biological family.  When aiming to move a child from foster care to a permanent home, the agency faces two major challenges: (1) finding a loving, permanent home and (2) clearing the many legal hurdles associated with adoption or legal guardianship. To tackle these challenges, the agency continuously works to cultivate families interested in adoption,  builds strong relationships with local court jurisdictions, and  funds unique staff positions that focus exclusively on completing the legal process related to permanency.

“For three years in a row, children’s home + aid has steadily increased the number of children moved from foster care to permanent families.”

Why is this important? Long-term stays in the foster care system are associated with a range of negative outcomes. Children with long stays in foster care are more likely to suffer academically, be unemployed, and receive low wages. 1 To avoid these negative outcomes, Children’s Home + Aid is committed to placing foster youth in permanent homes as soon as possible. In fiscal year 2015, the agency facilitated 169 adoptions and returned 186 children to their birth families. The agency has steadily increased the number of children moved from foster care to permanent homes for three straight years.