After the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan, an initial 80,000 Afghans were evacuated to the U.S. in 2021 following America’s botched withdrawal from the country. More than 2,300 Afghan evacuees have since resettled in Illinois, according the Illinois Department of Human Services.
illinois department of human services
Beginning in October 2020, LaSalle Veterans Home experienced a COVID-19 outbreak that sickened nearly 200 people. A whopping 85% of residents and 35% of staff tested positive for the virus, which eventually killed three dozen residents.
The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, also known as WIC, is facing a $1 billion budget shortfall, and Congress has until March to secure funding. Illinois would need about $24 million in additional funding for the 2024 fiscal year to serve its eligible population.
Amid five straight years of record overdose deaths in Illinois, a new state program aims to alleviate a shortage of professionals who work to prevent substance use disorders.
A 3-year-old migrant girl who was on a Texas-sponsored bus to Chicago died last week, prompting investigations by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other agencies, authorities said.
A new report by an advocacy agency details how abuse and neglect at Choate have continued despite calls for and promises of reform.
The department’s about-face on Choate’s top leader follows months of reporting on poor conditions at the facility by Capitol News Illinois, Lee Enterprises Midwest and ProPublica.
At Ludeman Developmental Center in Park Forest, 37 employees have been fired, resigned or face pending disciplinary action after a state watchdog found that they defrauded a federal pandemic-era small business loan program.
After serving nearly four years as the watchdog for the Illinois Department of Human Services, Peter Neumer will join the Chicago Park District as inspector general.
Congress intended for the loans issued by the U.S. Small Business Administration, most of which were later forgiven, to keep small businesses afloat and their employees on the payroll as COVID-19 resulted in lockdowns and interrupted commerce.
Prompted by an outcry over abuse, Illinois proposed moving residents from Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center to similar facilities in the state.
People with developmental disabilities living in Illinois’ publicly run institutions have been punched, slapped, hosed down, thrown about and dragged across rooms; in other cases, staff failures contributed to patient harm and death, state police and internal investigative records show.
A new state watchdog report calls for a “fundamental overhaul” at Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center.
Allegations of patient abuse, cover-ups and misconduct continue to proliferate at a beleaguered facility for people with developmental disabilities, despite promises of reform from Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and officials in his administration.
The competitive grants were awarded to 70 nonprofits providing social services in Illinois. The funds will help organizations address physical construction and accessibility improvements.
A technical delay is holding up payments to providers who care for children of low-income families that are part of the state’s Child Care Assistance Program, designed to help parents go to work or school with the help of subsidized child care.
Illinois residents open up about their experiences with addiction and recovery in a new statewide video campaign that seeks to connect people who use drugs with services.
There are new rules this summer surrounding child care for low-income families in Illinois. Child care advocates say that the changes–which they argue are not connected to the state budget impasse in Springfield–will eliminate 90 percent of new program applicants from eligibility.
