NCJ Number
84955
Date Published
1982
Length
47 pages
Annotation
Major judicial, legislative, and administrative developments in Illinois that yielded the deinstitutionalization movement in child placement are traced, and how far formal standards and rules of procedure should be applied to limit discretion in the placement process is examined.
Abstract
The major changes that occurred in the organization of governmental and voluntary social services and helped to predispose Illinois policymakers toward the deinstitutionalization of children were (1) the increased public subsidizing of the voluntary sector, (2) the spillover effect from massive deinstitutionalization in mental health and corrections, and (3) the evolution of children's legal and social rights. Only about 50 percent of all institutional placements in fiscal 1974 were successful in producing the child's planned release from institutional care. Most success was obtained among the child welfare system's traditional service population of dependent children under 13 years-old. Least success was obtained among the new populations of delinquent children under 13 and adolescents between 13 and 15. Additionally, the differential handling of minority group children by voluntary agencies contributed to lower success rates among blacks and Hispanics than among white children. The possible pattern of racial bias by voluntary agencies and professional groups in resisting the policy of limited intervention set by State administrative agencies suggests the need for greater accountability to public institutions and to substantive goals of child placement. An informational strategy that monitors official behavior by reference to prescribed performance standards is one way of expanding discretion while controlling its abuse. The methods used to obtain the multivariate estimates of the relationships between the probability of continuity-of-care and child characteristics and placement patterns are described. Thirty-nine references are listed.