Topic:
incarcerated parents
Incarcerated parents. House Bill 5551 (Williams, D-Chicago; Raoul, D-Chicago) requires the Department of Children and Family Services to look closer at the best interest of a child in foster care whose parents are incarcerated. Expands the definition of “fictive kin” to include a person unrelated by birth or marriage who is the current foster parent of a child in the custody or guardianship of DCFS. The child must have been placed in the home for at least one year and has established a significant a family-like relationship with the foster parent whom DCFS has identified as the child’s permanent connection. Makes other changes. Passed both chambers.