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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The opioid crisis has exacted a terrible toll on
3our State and nation over the past three decades, including
4the loss of over 3,000 Illinoisans to overdose in 2021 alone,
5which is a nearly 36% increase in just two years of an epidemic
6that has hit some areas, including many rural regions and some
7communities of color, particularly harshly; and
 
8    WHEREAS, The countless victims of the opioid epidemic
9include young children, the most vulnerable and helpless;
10every 25 minutes in the United States, a baby is born suffering
11from opioid withdrawal, also known as Neonatal Abstinence
12Syndrome (NAS); Illinois' own NAS rate grew 64% between 2011
13and 2017 alone; and
 
14    WHEREAS, Babies born with NAS face a higher likelihood of
15experiencing health complications at birth, as well as
16long-term health challenges and developmental delays; and
 
17    WHEREAS, Overdose is now the leading cause of maternal
18death in Illinois, adding to the many challenges experienced
19by young children, their families, and communities; and
 
20    WHEREAS, Parental substance use disorder is considered an
21Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE), and research consistently

 

 

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1shows that children experiencing ACEs are more likely than
2their peers to grow up to use drugs themselves and face
3physical and mental health challenges, as well as educational
4difficulties that can impact their ability to succeed later in
5life; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Recognizing the need to address these issues, the
7Children and Families Committee of the Illinois Opioid Crisis
8Response Advisory Council has called for increased focus on
9how this drug epidemic has impacted children and their
10households; and
 
11    WHEREAS, During development of the most recent iteration
12of the State Opioid Action Plan (SOAP), that committee made a
13number of relevant recommendations for increasing supports for
14affected children and families, in addition to strengthening
15the systems that help them; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Several key birth-to-3 programs have been shown
17to play an important role in remediating the detrimental
18effects of opioid use disorder as well as preventing future
19such problems, among many other positive health outcomes; and
 
20    WHEREAS, Voluntary home-visiting programs are one key
21example of these initiatives, services provided through such
22evidence-informed models as Healthy Families America, Nurse

 

 

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1Family Partnership, BabyTALK, and Parents As Teachers, in
2which trained professionals visit the homes of new or
3expecting parents and their young children to help support a
4wide variety of health, education, and developmental needs;
5and
 
6    WHEREAS, Quality home-visiting services have been shown to
7help build resilience among young children and reduce the
8likelihood that they experience ACEs and become involved in
9later-in-life drug use and crime, thus playing an important
10prevention role, and can also help connect parents with any
11substance-use recovery services they might need; and
 
12    WHEREAS, The Maternal Morbidity and Mortality Report
13published in 2021 by the Illinois Department of Public Health
14recommends expanding home-visiting programs as a key strategy
15for addressing these significant maternal health challenges;
16and
 
17    WHEREAS, Early Intervention services are another vital
18birth-to-3 priority, providing physical, developmental,
19speech, and other therapies desperately needed by infants and
20toddlers with developmental delays or disabilities, or risks
21of such challenges, which are experienced more often by
22children born with NAS; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Our State's existing home-visiting and Early
2Intervention programs, which are administered through the
3Illinois Department of Human Services and work with
4local-level service providers statewide, are limited by
5existing resources, preventing them from reaching all the
6children and families who could benefit from high-quality
7birth-to-3 services; and
 
8    WHEREAS, These longstanding shortcomings include
9inadequate compensation for hardworking and often-overextended
10community-level service providers and support staff, fueling
11high caseloads and staff turnover; and
 
12    WHEREAS, It is an urgent priority to identify and pursue
13promising new sources of support for these early childhood
14initiatives that have a demonstrated history of beneficial
15outcomes for children, their families, their communities, and
16our entire State; and
 
17    WHEREAS, One potential and appropriate source of funding
18is represented in the settlement of several lawsuits against
19the manufacturers and distributors of opioids, lawsuits that
20were initially filed by a number of Illinois state's attorneys
21and ultimately combined with others across the country; and
 
22    WHEREAS, The Illinois Attorney General has joined in

 

 

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1negotiating the settlement of these national lawsuits that are
2leading to hundreds of millions of dollars in new resources
3for Illinois over the course of two decades, intended to
4strengthen efforts at drug treatment and remediation, as well
5as prevention of future opioid problems; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Determination of the use of these forthcoming
7resources is split between local-level and state-level
8decision makers, with the latter being aided by an Illinois
9Opioid Remediation Advisory Board; and
 
10    WHEREAS, One approved use of these settlement funds, as
11delineated in the Illinois Opioid Allocation Agreement, is to
12address the needs of pregnant or parenting women and their
13families, including babies with NAS; and
 
14    WHEREAS, Members of the nonprofit, bipartisan Fight Crime:
15Invest in Kids organization, representing 340 Illinois police
16chiefs, sheriffs, and prosecutors, including those from
17several of the state's attorney's offices that initiated a
18number of these very same lawsuits, strongly support the use
19of these settlement dollars for home-visiting and Early
20Intervention services as an important way to aid our State's
21response to the opioid epidemic; therefore, be it
 
22    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE

 

 

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1HUNDRED THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
2we support home-visiting and Early Intervention programs as an
3essential component of our State's multifaceted approach to
4the opioid crisis, helping remediate many of its corrosive
5impacts on young children, their parents, and families, while
6also assisting efforts at preventing children from future
7struggles with substance use disorders of their own; and be it
8further
 
9    RESOLVED, That we affirm these vital birth-to-3 services
10are a top priority for increased public resources, to
11strengthen their quality and extend their reach to more of the
12children, parents, and families who could benefit from them,
13particularly in communities of greatest need and those hit
14hardest by the opioid epidemic; and be it further
 
15    RESOLVED, That we affirm home-visiting and Early
16Intervention services are an appropriate and necessary use for
17some of the hundreds of millions of funding coming to Illinois
18from the settlement of lawsuits against opioid makers and
19distributors, initiatives that can help meet the settlements'
20stated aims of boosting opioid remediation, treatment, and
21prevention; and be it further
 
22    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
23delivered to the offices of the Governor, the Lieutenant

 

 

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1Governor, the Attorney General, the Illinois Department of
2Human Services, the Illinois Department of Public Health, the
3Governor's Opioid Prevention and Recovery Steering Committee,
4the Illinois Opioid Crisis Response Advisory Council, and the
5Illinois Opioid Remediation Advisory Board.