102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2021 and 2022
HB4792
 
Introduced 1/27/2022, by Rep. Kathleen Willis
 
SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 

 
20 ILCS 505/45 new

     Amends the Children and Family Services Act. Requires the Department of Children and Family Services  to develop a written, strategic plan
that comprehensively addresses improving timely access to
quality in-state residential treatment and evidence-based
alternatives for youth in the care of the Department. Requires the planning process to be
transparent and allow for stakeholder input. Requires the strategic plan to be finalized
and made public no later than one year after the effective date
of the amendatory Act. Provides that the plan shall be revised within 6 months after the conclusion of a rate study and available to incorporate the recommendations of the rate study. Provides that the plan shall include:
(1) benchmarks and a timeline for implementing each
provision of the plan;
(2) strategy for obtaining resources needed to
implement each provision of the plan; and
(3) ongoing stakeholder engagement during the
implementation of the plan. Requires the Department to contract with a rate consultant
to study and develop potential new rates and rate
methodologies using objective, publicly available data
sources, standard administrative cost reporting, and
provider-reported costs in order to determine the resources
necessary to create and maintain a sufficient number of
quality in-state residential treatment resources for youth in
the Department's care.
  


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A BILL FOR
 

  
HB4792LRB102 25069 KTG 34329 b


  
1    AN ACT concerning State government.
  
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
 
3represented in the General Assembly:
  
 
 
4    Section 5. The Children and Family Services Act is amended  
5by adding Section 45 as follows:
 
6    (20 ILCS 505/45 new)
7    Sec. 45. Residential treatment and evidence-based 
8alternatives for youth in care. 
9    (a) Findings. The General Assembly finds that:
10        (1) From 2013 to 2018, more than 500 in-state 
11    residential treatment beds for youth in the care of the 
12    Department of Children and Family Services with serious 
13    and ongoing mental health needs were eliminated.
14        (2) Development of evidence-based alternatives to 
15    residential treatment, such as therapeutic foster care and 
16    multi-dimensional treatment foster care, has not met the 
17    need caused by the elimination of more than 500 
18    residential treatment beds.
19        (3) Quality residential treatment is a critical 
20    component of the system of care for youth in the care of 
21    the Department.
22        (4) It is imperative that children identified as 
23    requiring residential treatment receive that treatment or 
 
 
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1    an evidence-based alternative in a timely and competent 
2    fashion.
3        (5) One significant barrier to the development of new 
4    residential treatment beds has been the ability to attract 
5    and retain qualified staff.
6        (6) Community-based providers have a 42% to 50% annual 
7    staff turnover rate for caseworkers, supervisors, 
8    therapists, and residential staff.
9        (7) High rates of staff turnover are directly linked 
10    to poor outcomes for children and youth in care, including 
11    increased lengths of stay, which especially hurt black 
12    children as they are 3 times more likely to languish in 
13    care.
14        (8) Residential providers require a standardized, 
15    annual reimbursement methodology in order to incentivize a 
16    shrinking workforce and adequately fund and sustain the 
17    best possible outcomes for children and youth in Illinois' 
18    child welfare system, especially youth in need of 
19    residential treatment.
20        (9) Due to the lack of in-state residential treatment 
21    beds and evidence-based alternatives for youth in care:
22            (A) Youth in care are waiting for long periods of 
23        time in temporary settings where they often receive 
24        inadequate treatment to address their highly acute 
25        needs. The temporary settings also force youth to 
26        experience placement changes that are only necessary 
 
 
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1        because of the lack of critical beds.
2            (B) Youth in care are left in locked inpatient 
3        psychiatric units beyond the time that they clinically 
4        need to be hospitalized ("beyond medical necessity") 
5        because the outpatient placement resources they need 
6        are not available. The number of days on average that 
7        youth are left beyond medical necessity has increased 
8        from approximately 39 days in 2018 to 75 days in 2021.
9            (C) Youth in care identified as needing inpatient 
10        psychiatric care are being denied admission to 
11        inpatient psychiatric units due to the risk that the 
12        youth will not have a placement to discharge to when 
13        they are ready for discharge.
14            (D) Youth in care are being sent to out-of-state 
15        residential facilities where it is more difficult to 
16        monitor safety and well-being and more costly and 
17        challenging to facilitate achievement of their 
18        permanency goals.
19    (b)  Strategic plan on improving access to residential care 
20and evidence-based alternatives.  The Department of Children 
21and Family Services shall develop a written, strategic plan 
22that comprehensively addresses improving timely access to 
23quality in-state residential treatment and evidence-based 
24alternatives for youth in the care of the Department of 
25Children and Family Services.   The planning process must be 
26transparent and allow for stakeholder input.
 
 
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1    (c) Implementation. The strategic plan developed by the 
2Department of Children and Family Services shall be finalized 
3and made public no later than one year after the effective date 
4of this amendatory Act of the 102nd General Assembly.  The plan 
5shall be revised within 6 months after  the completion of the 
6rate study required under subsection (d) and available to 
7incorporate the recommendations of the rate study. The plan 
8shall include:
9        (1) Benchmarks and a timeline for implementing each 
10    provision of the plan.
11        (2) Strategy for obtaining resources needed to 
12    implement each provision of the plan.
13        (3) Ongoing stakeholder engagement during the 
14    implementation of the plan.
15    (d)   The Department shall contract with a rate consultant 
16to study and develop potential new rates and rate 
17methodologies using objective, publicly available data 
18sources, standard administrative cost reporting, and 
19provider-reported costs in order to determine the resources 
20necessary to create and maintain a sufficient number of 
21quality in-state residential treatment resources for youth in 
22the Department's care. The Department shall formulate 
23recommendations based on the results of the study.