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              Illinois Department of Children and Family Services
FFY 2011 Annual Progress and Services Report
54
Early Childhood:
Children who start school ready to learn are far more likely to succeed academically and to stay
in school until graduation. The converse is also true: if a child falls behind early, it is very
difficult to catch up. This is why the Department believes that the most important investment
that can be made for the youngest children in care is to ensure that they are prepared for
kindergarten—physically, emotionally, socially and cognitively. The Early Childhood Program
Unit is focused on preparing children for kindergarten, promoting placement stabilization, and
representing the needs of young children to each division across the Department. The Unit
provides and monitors developmental screens for children under age five in foster care
statewide. From their screen, each child receives a referral that is tracked to enrollment by the
early childhood staff. Additionally, the Department has embarked on the following initiatives:
School Readiness Initiative
In May, 2008, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services launched the School
Readiness Initiative. The overall goal of this initiative is to ensure that children (3-5) for whom
the Department has a legal relationship with, those that have been involved with the
Department via intact case management and children of teens are enrolled in an early learning
program. The Early Childhood programs include five general categories pursuant IDCFS
Procedure -Education-314.50 /70:
1. Head Start or Early Head Start
2. Pre-Kindergarten programs for children at risk of academic failure (Pre-K)
3. Accredited child care programs (e.g. licensed childcare, home visiting programs)
4. Early intervention service for infants and toddlers with developmental delays,
and
5. Early childhood special education programs for children aged 3-5 years with
disabilities
The School Readiness Team consist of (1) Administrator, (1) Supervisor and (6) - Social
Service Planner- III (one in each region). The goal of the school readiness team is to ensure the
implementation of the objectives which follows:
 Supporting the embedding of the Strengthening Families Protective Factors into local
practice and activities
 Maintaining a region –based tickler system to assist in identifying early childhood
learning resources and to monitor early childhood enrollment of children in care ages 3-
5, children of teen parents for whom the Department has no legal relationship with and
children that reside in intact families
 Monitoring children in care ages 3-5 to ensure that their learning needs are being met in
accordance with Procedure 314 “Educational Services”
 Consulting with educational advisors, liaisons, early childhood specialist, child welfare
and child protection staff to ensure successful collaborative efforts between early
childhood provider and the child welfare community in promoting safety, well being
permanency and positive learning experiences for children
 Participating in and supporting the efforts to build stronger relationships between the
early childhood, child welfare and caregiver communities through local events,
conferences and training