Full Text of HR0995 94th General Assembly
HR0995 94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
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| HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| WHEREAS, Prevent Child Abuse (PCA) Illinois, established | 3 |
| in 1990, is dedicated exclusively to the prevention of child | 4 |
| abuse and neglect; its programs contribute to strong, healthy | 5 |
| families by: helping to prepare and support parents so that | 6 |
| they can better care for their children; educating parents, | 7 |
| grandparents, neighbors, babysitters, and others about | 8 |
| situations that can be harmful to children; and raising concern | 9 |
| among all citizens -- "we are all responsible for protecting | 10 |
| our nation's children"; and
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| WHEREAS, PCA Illinois has 2 main advocacy priorities for | 12 |
| Illinois in 2006; the first of these is to continue to build | 13 |
| the Healthy Families Illinois Program across the State; Healthy | 14 |
| Families Illinois (HFI) is a voluntary program of intensive | 15 |
| home visiting to support parents of newborns and to reduce the | 16 |
| risk of child abuse and neglect; it is modeled after Healthy | 17 |
| Families America, a national initiative of Prevent Child Abuse | 18 |
| America; its goals are to promote positive parenting, to | 19 |
| encourage child health and development, and to prevent child | 20 |
| abuse and neglect; and | 21 |
| WHEREAS, Begun in 1997 with State funding, HFI grew to an | 22 |
| $11 million statewide program in 51 different communities | 23 |
| serving over 3,000 families annually by 2001; there has been no | 24 |
| additional funding since 2001, and the program has not been | 25 |
| able to grow toward serving the thousands more needing its | 26 |
| services; PCA Illinois' vision is to see this program reach | 27 |
| full scale in Illinois through incremental growth every year; | 28 |
| and | 29 |
| WHEREAS, PCA Illinois' second advocacy priority for | 30 |
| Illinois in 2006 is to address the methamphetamine problem in | 31 |
| Illinois in partnership with the various State agencies and | 32 |
| coalitions working on it; and |
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| WHEREAS, Methamphetamine ("meth") has become the major | 2 |
| drug problem in rural Illinois and has more serious | 3 |
| implications for harm to children than any other drug; children | 4 |
| are affected by its incapacitating effects on their parents and | 5 |
| caretakers and by the risk of harm in its manufacture and | 6 |
| sales; it is now specifically addressed in the Illinois | 7 |
| Juvenile Court Act of 1986 within the definition of child | 8 |
| abuse; and
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| WHEREAS, PCA Illinois has worked in partnership with State | 10 |
| agencies and with community groups to help address this problem | 11 |
| through public awareness, education, training, and support for | 12 |
| legislative measures; several legislative responses have | 13 |
| already been made; the Methamphetamine Control and Community | 14 |
| Protection Act, which took effect January 11th, includes | 15 |
| stronger deterrents to meth manufacture in homes where children | 16 |
| reside or in multi-unit dwellings where other tenants, | 17 |
| including families and children, would be put at risk; other | 18 |
| recent legislation restricts access to products containing key | 19 |
| meth ingredients ephedrine and pseudoephedrine; and
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| WHEREAS, PCA Illinois also supports keys issues raised by | 21 |
| one of its child advocacy partners, Voices for Illinois | 22 |
| Children, including: the Early Learning Illinois effort to | 23 |
| improve and expand preschool opportunities for young children; | 24 |
| the Children's Mental Health Partnership to strengthen | 25 |
| children's mental, social, and emotional health; and the A+ | 26 |
| Illinois Campaign to reform school funding and improve the | 27 |
| adequacy and fairness of education; and
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| WHEREAS, In 2006, PCA Illinois will work with the Illinois | 29 |
| Association of Court Appointed Special Advocates to secure $1 | 30 |
| million in funding to improve and expand the Court Appointed | 31 |
| Special Advocate Program to serve more of our State's most | 32 |
| vulnerable children; Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASAs) |
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| are trained volunteers who serve as advocates for children in | 2 |
| the court system interacting with the child and providing | 3 |
| information in the child's best interest directly to the court; | 4 |
| operating under careful guidelines established by National | 5 |
| CASA for an intensive and ongoing commitment to the child, | 6 |
| volunteers in Illinois served over 4,200 children last year; | 7 |
| the actual need is more than six times that number; and
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| WHEREAS, A Child Abuse Prevention Month Media Conference | 9 |
| Launch and Awards Ceremony is planned for April 3, 2006 in the | 10 |
| State Capitol rotunda at Springfield; simultaneous launches | 11 |
| will be held in Chicago and in southern Illinois; PCA Illinois, | 12 |
| in collaboration with the Department of Children and Family | 13 |
| Services, has planned a statewide calendar of events in | 14 |
| connection with the prevention of child abuse and neglect for | 15 |
| the month of April; therefore, be it
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| RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 17 |
| NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 18 |
| we proclaim April 2006 as Child Abuse Prevention Month in | 19 |
| Illinois and urge organizations throughout the State to take | 20 |
| steps to increase local and statewide visibility of Child Abuse | 21 |
| Prevention Month activities.
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