SPRINGFIELD — A bill that would require the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services to consider access to reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare before placing foster children out of state passed the legislature during the last week of session.

The legislation, if signed into law, will require that DCFS conduct individualized risk assessments before placing a foster child in another state. The assessment would specifically consider whether the youth or their caregiver could face criminal charges for healthcare that is legal in Illinois or whether the youth would lose access to healthcare that is legal in Illinois.

Sponsored by Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, House Bill 4966, came amid federal policy changes that complicate access to reproductive services, including abortions and gender- and sexuality-related healthcare across state lines.  It’s also known as the SECURE Act, short for Safeguards to Ensure Continuity and Uphold Rights and Equity.

“House Bill 4966 is about ensuring that the youth in the care of the state of Illinois retain the rights of residents of the state of Illinois, regardless of where we have to place them,” Cassidy said in an April committee hearing

If DCFS found that a child may struggle to obtain healthcare in an out-of-state placement, the department must document a plan to mitigate that risk, such as coordinating with out-of-state or Illinois providers. If the department cannot do so, and the child does not want to be placed in that state, DCFS must decline the placement.

According to DCFS, 68 foster children are currently placed in other states, though the agency didn’t break that number down by age. HB 4966 would only apply to children 8 years old or older. Cassidy said it’s also about giving children a say in where they’re placed.

“In a state like ours, where foster youth lack the vital safeguard of a statutorily guaranteed right to client-directed legal representation in abuse and neglect proceedings, Illinois foster youth are at a serious disadvantage,” she said during House floor debate.

Often, children placed outside of Illinois are sent to live with family members, said Nora Collins-Mandeville, director of the youth & family policy project at the ACLU of Illinois. The bill does not aim to restrict out-of-state placements, Collins-Mandeville said. Instead, it requires that DCFS attempt to plan ahead and requires obtaining the child’s support for a placement when the department cannot ensure access to certain kinds of healthcare.

“We wanted to make sure that the child has not just a voice, but that people actually are listening to that voice,” Collins-Mandeville said.” So if the child is saying, ‘I don’t want to go,’ and the department can’t mitigate that risk, the department cannot place that child in that situation.”

Republican opposition

Republicans pushed back against the bill, citing overreach beyond state lines.

“This bill is basically set up to provide conflict between Illinois’ most expansive laws dealing with gender-affirming care, abortion, those kinds of things, with states that may be somewhat more restrictive,” Rep. Steve Reick, R-Woodstock, said during floor debate.

Rep. Jed Davis, R-Yorkville, who has frequently pushed for reform at DCFS, said in an interview that the department should prioritize existing responsibilities, rather than adopting new policies.

“Before we start shoving all of our preferred philosophical beliefs onto a department, let’s make sure they can actually get their day-to-day operation job done adequately,” Davis said.

As a foster parent for over a decade, Davis said he supports requiring risk assessments to keep children safe, but he opposed the bill.

“It has some really good things in there,’’ he said. But, he added, “The root underneath the bill is very ideological and trying to bring the beliefs that are happening in the dome of Springfield, and push them onto neighboring states.”

Collins-Mandeville said opponents of the bill frequently argued that it would “export Illinois laws” to other states. However, she said, the bill is instead aimed at ensuring “an Illinois child doesn’t lose access to Illinois legal protections.”

The bill would also require DCFS to protect a child from unnecessary and unapproved disclosure of any personal information that could be linked to the child’s sexual orientation or other protected characteristics like gender. It also establishes guidelines for the department to share that information if needed.

The bill passed both the House 35-19 and Senate 74-30 with only Democratic support in the final days of the Illinois General Assembly’s session. The bill has an immediate effective date, though some of the administrative functions and rulemaking would happen over the next two years if it’s signed by the governor.

Hannah Webster is an undergraduate student in journalism with Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications, and a fellow in its Medill Illinois News Bureau working in partnership with Capitol News Illinois.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.