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              Illinois Department of Children and Family Services
FFY 2012 Annual Progress and Services Report
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addition, the program will continue to evaluate outcomes around father engagement, adverse
childhood trauma experiences of parents and impact on engagement and positive child welfare
outcomes and the importance of a comprehensive initial assessment on children’s safety,
permanency and well-being.
Early Childhood Developmental Screenings
The Early Childhood Developmental Screening program conducts developmental screenings on
all children ages 0-3 who come into care. These screenings are conducted with the children by
specially trained master’s level developmental screeners. They focus on developmental needs
across all domains including physical, cognitive, and social/emotional development. Children
who are in need are referred for early intervention and therapeutic services. To date for FY
2011, of the 3550 children 0-3 in care, 95% or 3372 children have been screened. During FY11,
we also implemented screenings for intact family cases for CAPTA (Child Abuse Prevention and
Treatment Act) which is a federally mandated screening program. Through the Intact Screening
Program we hired eight developmental screeners and conducted 322 screenings of children and
their biological parents.
Early Childhood Project
The Early Childhood Project provides developmental and mental health expertise to children age
0-5 years that are in foster care or are being closely monitored by the child welfare system. The
major components of the Early Childhood Placement Services Program include:
 Cook County Regional Developmental Screenings: As part of the program,
developmental screenings are conducted for all children birth to three in state care. The
Early Childhood Placement Developmental Screeners are Master’s level professionals
who have extensive training in early childhood development and trauma. They conduct
developmental and social/emotional screenings with the aim of identifying and referring
young children at risk to the Early Intervention System and other therapeutic programs
providing valuable early childhood consultation to foster families caring for young
children.
 Cook County and Downstate 0-5 Early Childhood Coordinators: The Early Childhood
Coordinators are Master’s level professionals with training in both early childhood
development and the impact of trauma on young children. The Cook County
Coordinators assure that all referrals from the 0-3 screenings are appropriate and made in
the necessary time frames. They also oversee the referrals of children aged 3-5 to the
various providers such as the Chicago Public School System, and ensure smooth
transition of wards from Early Intervention System to CPS. The Downstate Coordinators
refer all wards 5 years and under, who are not screened through the Integrated
Assessment Program, for developmental screenings and services in the downstate regions
of Illinois.
 Acquisition and monitoring of Early Childhood Services: The program is focused on
identifying available early childhood services, developing a variety of collaborations with
public and private human service and early intervention organizations, in an effort to
maximize the opportunities for young children in care to obtain needed support. On
behalf of the Department, the Early Childhood Coordinators track referrals and monitor
consistent participation in services, maintain collaborations with all referral sources, meet