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91_HB1913
LRB9104993SMdv
1 AN ACT relating to child welfare in the State of
2 Illinois; providing guidelines for the consideration of race,
3 culture, and ethnic heritage in foster family home placement
4 and foster family home placement for the purpose of adoption;
5 and requiring recruitment for adoption and foster care.
6 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
7 represented in the General Assembly:
8 Section 1. Short title. This Act may be known as the
9 African American Heritage Child Welfare Act.
10 Section 5. Findings; declaration. The State recognizes
11 that the preservation of the African American family is
12 essential to the survival of the African American community.
13 The General Assembly finds:
14 (1) That there is no resource that is more vital to
15 the continued existence and integrity of African American
16 communities than their children and that the State has a
17 direct interest in protecting African American children
18 who are members of the African American community.
19 (2) That an alarmingly high percentage of African
20 American families are broken up by the removal, often
21 unwarranted, of their children from them by the Illinois
22 Department of Children and Family Services and private
23 agencies. Many of these children are placed in
24 non-African American foster and adoptive homes.
25 (3) That in child custody proceedings through
26 administrative and judicial bodies, the essential culture
27 and social standards of African American communities and
28 families are not recognized.
29 The General Assembly hereby declares that the State shall
30 protect the best interest of African American children in
31 foster and adoptive placements, and promote the stability and
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1 security of the African American communities in the State of
2 Illinois.
3 Section 10. Definitions. As used in this Act:
4 "Adoptive family home" means a foster family home which
5 receives a child or children for the purpose of adopting the
6 child or children.
7 "African American child" means any unmarried child under
8 18 years of age who has at least one African American birth
9 parent.
10 "African American community" means a geographic area or a
11 community designated by a local municipality in which at
12 least 50% of the population is African American.
13 "African American community organization" is any group,
14 school, fraternal order, business, corporation, or other
15 entity in which at least 50% of the members or staff are
16 African American.
17 "African American family" means an intimate association
18 of persons of Black African descent who are related to one
19 another by a variety of means including blood, marriage,
20 formal adoption, and informal adoption who reside in the same
21 home.
22 "African American religious organization" means a church,
23 mosque, or temple in which at least 50% of the members are
24 African American.
25 "Child welfare agency" means a public or private child
26 care facility receiving any child or children for the purpose
27 of placing or arranging for the placement of the child or
28 children in foster family homes, or other facilities for
29 child care, apart from the custody of the child's or
30 children's parents. "Child welfare agency" includes all
31 agencies established and maintained by a municipality or
32 other political subdivision of the State of Illinois to
33 protect, guard, train or care for children outside of their
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1 own homes.
2 "Foster family home" means a facility for child care in
3 the residence of a family that receives children unrelated to
4 them for the purpose of providing family care and training
5 for the children on a full-time basis.
6 "Guardian" means guardian of the person of a minor.
7 "Relative" means a person who is, by blood, marriage, or
8 adoption, the African American child's parent, grandparent,
9 great-grandparent, great-uncle, great-aunt, brother, sister,
10 brother-in-law, sister-in-law, step-parent, step-brother,
11 step-sister, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, or first or second
12 cousin.
13 Section 15. Records required. Each person or child
14 welfare agency permitted by law to receive children, secure
15 homes for children, or care for children shall keep a record
16 containing the name, age, and former residence, legal status,
17 health records, sex, race, ethnicity, and cumulated length of
18 time in foster care, if applicable, of each child received;
19 the name, former residence, occupation, social, physical, and
20 mental health histories, and race, ethnicity, and character
21 of each child, and the name, race, occupation, and residence
22 of the person with whom a child is placed; the date of the
23 removal of any child to another home and the reason for
24 removal; the date of termination of parental rights; the
25 social history, school, psychiatric and psychological
26 reports, and any other pertinent reports or records of each
27 child until he or she reaches the age of 18 years or is
28 discharged according to the law. If the child is adopted,
29 the records shall be retained according to the law.
30 Section 20. Protection of heritage or background. The
31 child welfare agency shall ensure that the African American
32 child's best interest is met by giving due consideration to
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1 the African American child's race, culture, and ethnic
2 heritage in making a foster family or adoptive home
3 placement. The child welfare agency shall place an African
4 American child released by court order or adoption surrender
5 by the African American parent or parents in a foster family
6 or adoptive family home according to the preferences
7 described in Section 30.
8 Section 25. Recruitment of foster and adoptive families.
9 Each child welfare agency shall make special efforts to
10 recruit an African American foster family home or adoptive
11 family home from among the child's relatives, except as
12 authorized in Section 30, and among African Americans from
13 the African American community. Special efforts include
14 contacting and working with African American community
15 organizations and African American religious organizations.
16 Special efforts also include utilizing local media and other
17 local resources and conducting outreach activities in the
18 African American community. The agency may accept any gifts,
19 grants, offers of services, and other contributions for use
20 in making special recruitment efforts. These efforts shall
21 be documented.
22 Section 30. Foster and adoptive family home placements.
23 The intent of this Section is to ensure that the best
24 interest of the child is met by requiring due consideration
25 of the African American child's race, culture, and ethnic
26 heritage in foster family home and adoptive home placements.
27 For purposes of inter-country adoptions, due consideration is
28 deemed to have occurred if the appropriate authority in the
29 child's country of birth has approved the placement of the
30 child.
31 The child welfare agency shall give preference, in the
32 absence of good cause to the contrary, to placing the child
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1 with:
2 (a) a relative or relatives of the African American
3 child; or
4 (b) an African American family, if placement under
5 clause (a) would not be in the best interest of the
6 African American child, or if a relative is not
7 available; or
8 (c) a family of a different racial, cultural, and
9 ethnic heritage that is knowledgeable and appreciative of
10 the African American child's racial, cultural, and ethnic
11 heritage, and has on-going contact with people in the
12 African American community, if placement under clauses
13 (a) and (b) is not feasible.
14 If, after appropriate counseling, the birth parent or parents
15 explicitly request that the preference described in clause
16 (a) or clauses (a) and (b) not be followed, the child welfare
17 agency shall honor the request consistent with the best
18 interest of the African American child.
19 Section 35. Investigation of petition. Upon the filing
20 of a petition for adoption of an African American child other
21 than a related African American child, the court shall,
22 within 10 days, appoint a child welfare agency, or a
23 probation office of the court, or in Cook County, the Court
24 Service Division of the Cook County Department of Public Aid,
25 to investigate accurately, fully, and promptly the
26 allegations contained in the petition; the character,
27 reputation, health, and general standing in the community of
28 the petitioners; the religious faith of the petitioners, and
29 if ascertainable, of the African American child sought to be
30 adopted; whether the petitioners are proper persons to adopt
31 the African American child, and whether the African American
32 child is a proper candidate for adoption, and whether the
33 petitioners meet the preference described in Section 40.
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1 Section 40. Protection of racial or ethnic heritage or
2 religious affiliation. The intent of this Section is to
3 ensure that the best interest of the child is met by
4 requiring due consideration of the African American child's
5 race, culture, and ethnic heritage in foster family home and
6 adoptive family home placement.
7 (a) For purposes of inter-country adoption, due
8 consideration is deemed to have occurred if the appropriate
9 authority in the child's country of birth has approved the
10 placement of the child.
11 (b) In the adoption of the African American child and in
12 reviewing the adoptive placement, the court shall give
13 preference, in the absence of good cause to the contrary, to
14 placing the child with:
15 (1) a relative or relatives of the African American
16 child; or
17 (2) an African American family, if placement under
18 clause (1) would not be in the best interest of the
19 African American child, or if a relative is not
20 available; or
21 (3) a family of a different racial, cultural, and
22 ethnic heritage that is knowledgeable and appreciative of
23 the African American child's racial, cultural, and ethnic
24 heritage and has on-going contact with people in the
25 African American community, if placement under clauses
26 (1) and (2) is not feasible.
27 (c) The court, in transferring legal custody of any
28 African American child or appointing a guardian for the
29 African American child under the laws relating to juvenile
30 courts, shall place the African American child in the
31 following order of preference, in the absence of good cause
32 to the contrary, in the legal custody or guardianship of an
33 individual who is:
34 (1) a relative or relatives of the African American
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1 child; or
2 (2) an African American family, if placement under
3 clause (1) would not be in the best interest of the
4 African American child, or if a relative is not
5 available; or
6 (3) a family of a different racial, cultural, and
7 ethnic heritage that is knowledgeable and appreciative of
8 the African American child's racial, cultural, and ethnic
9 heritage, and has on-going contact with people in the
10 African American community, if placement under clauses
11 (1) and (2) is not feasible.
12 The court may require the child welfare agency to continue
13 efforts to find an African American family when such an
14 African American family is not immediately available.
15 (d) If, after appropriate counseling, the child's parent
16 or parents, explicitly request the preference described in
17 subdivision (b)(1) or (c)(1) or in subdivisions (b)(1) and
18 (b)(2) or (c)(1) and (c)(2), not to be followed, the court
19 shall honor that request, consistent with the best interest
20 of the African American child.
21 (e) If after appropriate counseling, the African
22 American child's parent or parents express a preference for
23 placing the African American child in a foster family home,
24 or adoptive family home of the same or a similar religious
25 background to that of the genetic parent or parents, in
26 following the preference of subdivision (b)(1) or (c)(1) or
27 subdivision (b)(2) or (c)(2), the court shall order placement
28 of the African American child with an individual who meets
29 the birth parent's religious preference. Only if no
30 individual is available who is described in subdivision
31 (b)(1) or (c)(1) or subdivision (b)(2) or (c)(2), may the
32 court give preference to an individual described in
33 subdivision (b)(3) or (c)(3) who meets the parent's religious
34 preference.
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1 Section 45. Guardianship. In ordering guardianship and
2 transferring legal custody of the child to an individual
3 under this Act, the court shall comply with the provisions of
4 subsection (c) of Section 40.
5 Section 50. Rule-making. The Department of Children and
6 Family Services, in consultation with the National
7 Association of Black Social Workers, Chicago Chapter, shall
8 establish policies and coordinate activities to implement the
9 provisions of this Act and to coordinate foster care and
10 adoption services in order to facilitate referral of African
11 American children from foster care into adoptive placements
12 where eventual return of the African American child to the
13 child's birth parent or parents is unlikely or would be
14 detrimental to the African American child.