Before the 104th General Assembly was sworn in on Wednesday, January 8th, the Lame-Duck Session was held in Springfield. 71st District Representative Dan Swanson reports one bill that was supported pertained to children:
“Several bills came forward. A bill that was easy to support was allowing children to go to a relative when taken in by DCFS, to put them with a family member as opposed to placing them in a traditional foster home. That was a good one to see because I am a strong proponent that the family is the one that should be raising that child to begin with. Foster homes go through a major background investigation, but it is different when they walk into somebody’s home they don’t know as opposed to going to grandma’s or grandpa’s or aunt’s or uncles.”
The 104th General Assembly will reconvene in Springfield on January 28th for the Spring Session.