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| 1 | SENATE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, 125,000 children are abused or neglected each year | ||||||
| 3 | in Illinois, and one in five children will be abused before | ||||||
| 4 | they become 18 years old; and
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| 5 | WHEREAS, The Illinois Department of Children and Family | ||||||
| 6 | Services estimates as many as 100,000 cases of abused and | ||||||
| 7 | neglected children go unreported each year; and
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| 8 | WHEREAS, Children will tell an average of seven adults that | ||||||
| 9 | they are being abused or neglected before a report is made; and
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| 10 | WHEREAS, Every delay in reporting suspected abuse or | ||||||
| 11 | neglect increases the likelihood that abuse will become more | ||||||
| 12 | serious, or even deadly, and that the perpetrator will likely | ||||||
| 13 | abuse additional children; and
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| 14 | WHEREAS, There are numerous professions that are required | ||||||
| 15 | by law to be mandated reporters of abuse or neglect of a child, | ||||||
| 16 | such as medical professionals, teachers, social workers, and | ||||||
| 17 | ministers; and | ||||||
| 18 | WHEREAS, Such mandated reporters are required to sign a | ||||||
| 19 | statement prior to the start of their employment that states | ||||||
| 20 | that the employee has knowledge and understanding of being a | ||||||
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| 1 | mandated reporter; and | ||||||
| 2 | WHEREAS, Some professional organizations have taken it | ||||||
| 3 | upon themselves to create training programs for their employees | ||||||
| 4 | who are mandated reporters so that they better understand their | ||||||
| 5 | responsibilities and can better recognize signs of child abuse | ||||||
| 6 | and neglect; and
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| 7 | WHEREAS, The Illinois Department of Children and Family | ||||||
| 8 | Services offers free online training to help all mandated | ||||||
| 9 | reporters understand their role in protecting children by | ||||||
| 10 | recognizing and reporting child abuse and neglect; therefore, | ||||||
| 11 | be it
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| 12 | RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDREDTH GENERAL | ||||||
| 13 | ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge the Department | ||||||
| 14 | of Children and Family Services to develop a plan to raise | ||||||
| 15 | awareness of its free online training in recognizing and | ||||||
| 16 | reporting child abuse and neglect; and be it further
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| 17 | RESOLVED, That the Department shall draft a report no later | ||||||
| 18 | than December 31, 2017 with its recommendations to the General | ||||||
| 19 | Assembly on how this plan should be developed and implemented.
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